Sweater Town
by Starwin
Summary: -COMPLETED- After the worst day of her life, Mabel Pines escapes into her sweater, finding herself once more in Gravity Falls. She quickly discovers that something isn't right. She's having a hard time speaking her mind, the sky looks wrong and huge parts of her life are missing. Worse, she is starting to forget what is even real anymore! At least her brother is there... right?
1. Chapter 1 - The Sweater

Sweater Town

Chapter 1 – The Sweater

By: Starwin

* * *

Disclaimer:

All characters are the property of their respective copyright holders and are used without permission.

This work may be freely redistributed so long as it is not sold or monetized in any way.

Summery:

After the worst day of her life, Mabel Pines escapes into sweater town, finding herself once more in Gravity Falls. She quickly discovers that something isn't right. She's having a hard time speaking her thoughts, the whole sky looks like a giant sweater and huge parts of her life are missing. Worse she is starting to forget what is even real anymore! But at least her brother is there for her… right?

* * *

It had been a rough couple of days at school for Dipper Pines, Mabel's twin brother. Her brother was a nerd, that liked nerd things and talked about nerd stuff and was generally a huge, major, nerd. While She found it adorable, other middle school children their age often did not. Most of their lives, Dipper had been picked-on and made fun of for his unique interests. She too had endured her fair share of people that didn't appreciate her brand of lighthearted fun. Although she never let it get to her the way it did for her brother.

What's more, she thought that they were past this. After their summer together in Gravity Falls, Oregon, Dipper had changed. He was more confident in himself than ever before. They had faced literal demons and the end of the world side-by-side. They had won, together.

However, when they returned home that confidence her brother had found began to slip away a little each day. The ordeals they had endured began to feel like a distant dream. Over the summer they had been super heroes on an adventure to save the world. Now, they were just thirteen-year-old kids again. Powerless, small and normal.

As if to reaffirm their place, today had been especially bad for her brother. A mean group of other teens had teased him. First, about the same hat he wore every day then about the strange paranormal investigation comics he liked to read at lunch. It had quickly escalated into downright bullying when they had taken his hat and his book. The hat had ended up on the roof and the book had most of its pages ripped out.

Mabel had intervened the moment she noticed what was happening. She had charged into the group shouting and flailing her arms. She managed to snatch back the comic fairly easily and her "psycho" - as the bully boys had called her - behavior scared them off. The bullies left but the damage was already done.

She had also climbed up on the school roof to retrieve his hat, which she had gotten in trouble for. It just a warning she was not to do it again. _'Pfft'_ like that was gonna stop her. Gloomily, Dipper had taken back the brown cap Wendy had given him with a mutter thanks but he wouldn't even look at the ruined comic.

Worse, he had made her promise not to tell any adult what had happen. Not their teachers or parents or anyone! She had almost been able to refuse his request but those big brown pleading eyes - a trick she often used on him and their dad, it never worked on their mom - finally made she promised not to say anything. So she hadn't, no matter how bad it felt to stay silent.

Luckily, it was Thursday the week was almost over. School had let out so Mabel and Dipper were on their way home, walking under the especially clear blue sky. She was skipping with every other step, while her brother trotted along, his head down, not seeing the fantastic view above them. She tried, not for the first or even hundredth, time that day, to bust her best-bro out of his funk.

"Come on Dipster!" she said as she skipped beside her twin, he didn't look up. "You're missing the most amazing walk! The trees, the flowers, the sky, the grass, the... uh trees!"

"You said trees twice," Dipper offered, still not looking up, his voice distant and sullen. "And I've seen them. We've walked this way for years, Mabel. These are hardly even trees when you compare them to..."

Dipper trailed off but she knew what he was going to say. He had almost mentioned the Mystery Shack and their summer spent in Gravity Falls. She knew he missed the place. She missed the place too. It wasn't something they often talked about out in the open and never at school or close to school. No one, not even their parents, would possibly believe even half the things the twins had done. Dipper hardly seemed to believe it anymore.

"They're nothing special," he finished lamely.

"What!" cried Mabel in mock indignation. "Every flower is special! Every tree is a wondrous wonder of wonder!" She flung her arm out to catch the trunk of a passing tree and did a little spin around it. At last her brother looked up. There was the tiniest of smiles on his face.

"A wondrous wonder of wonder?" he asked.

"The most wonderfully wondrous of wonders!" exclaimed Mabel. Real joy lit up her eyes as her brother came out of his shell just the tiniest bit. For a moment, she saw the brave, unstoppable, hero that had battled hand-in-hand with her. Together, they had triumphed over the inter-dimensional mind demon Bill Cypher as well as overcome the other unbelievable terrors that inhabited Gravity Falls. She skipped ahead, her arms spread wide. "All of it is wonderful! And there is no one else I would rather be wondering about it than with you, my wonderful bro-bro!"

"Alright, alright," and there was actually a little laugh in his voice. "Can you please stop saying 'wonderful?'"

"I could," mused Mabel, spinning on her heel and walking backwards so she could see her brother's bashful grinning face. "But only if you promise me to look up once in awhile. The smiling thing is optional but preferred."

"I promise I -" his eyes suddenly darted to the side and there was fear and panic and horror in his face. "MABEL!" shouted Dipper. He lunged forward, covering the space between them in a moment too brief for her to comprehend. His hands slammed into her chest and shoved her. She tumbled backwards, falling the longest most terrible fall of her life.

There was the screech of tires, the smell of burning rubber and the brief and final moment of her brother as the steel grill of the SUV slammed into him. All of it was branded into her mind, a life destroying moment that she could never unsee.

She hit the asphalt hard with her shoulder and head. Her body rolled twice over before she came to a painful stop on her side. There was a strange ringing in her ears and her whole body was numb yet burning with pain. She pushed herself up, every muscle from head to tiny toe screaming.

Her eyes found the vehicle first, a cream colored SUV. The driver was already getting out, his face a mixture of fear and agony. He was saying something to her, asking her something, but his words didn't have any meaning. They were English, and they were words but her brain just refused to understand them. The man lifted his phone, fingers pounding against its glossy finish and he almost cried into it for help.

Slowly, she looked away from him. Everything felt oddly slow and surreal. Time kept slowing down and speeding up as her eyes moved down the road to where a small, broken body lay twenty yards from the front of the car. Her legs moved her towards it while her brain screamed for her to look away, to stop, to run, to crumple into a heap and weep.

"Dipper?" she asked, her voice so tiny even she couldn't hear it. Tears were burning down her cheeks, she didn't know when they had started. "Dipper." she repeated louder as she limped forward towards him. "Dipper. Dipper. Dipper. Dipper. Dipper. Dipper. Dipper. Dipper." his name continued to flow from her mouth faster and louder until she was screaming it. Her feet carried her in a run the last few steps and she fell onto her knees beside his motionless form.

"DIPPER!" she screamed. "DIPPER! DIPPER! DIPPER!" over and over. He did not stir. She reached out and grabbed him, turning her brother from his side to his back. Mabel knew he was gone, even before she saw the awful state of him. She had known it before she had hit the asphalt. She had watched the light go out of his eyes in that horrible moment that was forever burned into her brain when the front of the car had struck him.

She pulled his ruined body into her arms, cradling him, screaming his name, the whole world a terrible blur of pain and tears. She cried into his blood soaked chest, all his warmth gone, all his life departed.

It wasn't fair, they had survived so much, so many impossible things. For it all to have been taken away in the single blink of an eye. In an accident, a random chance. IT. WASN'T. FAIR!

It could have been hours later, or simply minutes – time had lost all meaning to her, everything had lost all meaning to her – when hands took hold of her. Words of calm were whispered into her ears, trying to comfort her but they had the opposite effect. She screamed incomprehensibly at them, not words exactly but not just sounds either. She lashed out with her free arm trying to push away the people attempting to part her and Dipper. This was her brother! Her twin! She was never letting him go! Never, ever, ever!

The hands came again, more forceful, more demanding. She lashed out again but she couldn't fight them off, so she bit down instead. The arm didn't release her, and she was dragged back, pulled away from her brother forever.

She screamed his name from her numb throat, her hands reaching for him as strange bodies closed around Dipper like the ghosts of death come to claim their prize.

"Mabel!" said a voice she barely recognized. Her brain was sluggishly playing catch up, and she realized that lots of people had been talking to her. That they had tried to coax her away, to let go of her brother's bo– she couldn't finish that thought. He wasn't gone, he was fine. But he wasn't fine. And the voice was still talking to her. "... look at me Mabel. You have to calm down."

Her eyes finally found the face of her father. Anger abruptly washed away her grief. She wanted to shout, to scream! Someone was putting some kind of blanket around her shoulders now and she realized that her dad had set her down in the back of an ambulance.

Her senses were slowly starting to return. She could feel the pain of her scraped knees and elbows. She could finally hear the sirens that had been wailing in the background all this time. Talking buzzed around her and she could see the crowd of onlookers that had gathered behind the police tape, gawking at her brother, who had now been covered in a black sheet.

Mabel wanted to scream at everyone, harder and louder than she ever had before. However, her voice wouldn't say what she wanted it to. It wasn't her throat, her brain had forgotten how words worked. The only thing she could weep out was "Dipper."

* * *

The ride to the hospital was short. Both her parents sat in the back with her. The medic that sat beside her kept trying to ask her things but she just answered with the only thing that mattered, "Dipper."

When they reached the hospital, they took her gray and white 'kitten's are cute' sweater from her and wouldn't give it back. The nurse rationally and calmly explained that it was torn and covered in blood. Mabel rationally and calmly tried to claw the nurse's eyes out trying to retrieve it. In the end her father had to restrain her again.

She didn't remember a lot after that because she must have passed out or something. When the world returned to her from the darkness, she found herself in her own bed back at home. For one, joy filled amazing instant Mabel convinced herself that it had all been a nightmare. She leapt from her bed - noticing that someone had dressed her in a long powder blue pajama shirt - before she sprinted across the hall to her brother's room. She flung the door open without knocking. The smile died on her lips.

His room was messy, covered in shadows of the late afternoon sun that streamed in through his blinds. Unwashed clothing was strewn across the floor and several open containers of comics sat just under his bed. A dozen news articles were pinned to the walls above his desk and the shelves of his bookcases housed other nerd junk. What his room did not have, was her brother.

"Dipper," whispered Mabel. She wanted to step inside, to give it a thorough search, to look in every corner and under every pile of clothing. But she couldn't take even a single step forward. It had not been a nightmare. The image, the smell, the sound of the moment her whole world ended lingered in her mind.

Tears returned to her eyes and she collapsed in the hallway sobbing uncontrollably. It wasn't long before her parents found her, trying to comfort her again. Their words washed over her like raindrops, and all she could repeat between sobs was her brother's name over and over.

At last, her father carried her back into her room as she chanted Dipper's name. He set her down on the bed and sat beside her, while her mother stood over her, softly stroking Mabel's hair. Both of them said words that were perhaps meant to calm her down but she heard only hollow echoed falsehoods. She curled into a ball, still sobbing for her brother.

After a while, when she had cried herself dry, they left her alone, closing the door behind them. Mabel didn't know how long she lay there an unmoving, unthinking, mess. The gaping hole where her heart once was grew every larger, threatening to consume her completely. The pain and loss was only getting worse and she didn't think she could deal with this anymore, she couldn't be here anymore. Not this room, not this house, not this city, this country, this planet, this universe. She had to escape it all.

Almost tumbling out of bed she fell to her hands and knees and had to stifle a gasp of pain. Rolling back onto her butt, she hiked up her long nightshirt so that she could see her knees. Both kneecaps had heavy white bandages around them. The left gauze had a small stain of blood on it. Carefully, with shaking hands, she touched one of her kneecaps and felt a sharp sting.

Doing a very quick once over, she found bandages on both elbows, her right forearm and right shoulder blade (that one hurt a whole lot). Her right cheek, across her forehead and the back of her head as well. Her hands wouldn't stop trembling as she worked her way to her feet. With halting steps she crossed her small room to the mirrored closet.

She pulled the nightshirt up over her head so that she stood almost naked in front of her mirror. There were dark purple bruises all over her back and a couple butterfly bandages on her chin that she had missed. Her eyes began to water again as she looked at herself. She was banged up and bruised, but perfectly, unfairly, fine. A small part of her wanted to rip off the bandages, to see how horrible she really looked. She almost yearned to know that she was just as bad off as her twin, that she wasn't fine.

Instead, she pulled her nightshirt back on and yanked the closet door open, shoving her reflection aside. A huge array of sweaters were tightly packed end-to-end taking up all of the rack space. She ignored them and selected a small drawer at the very bottom. It had only a single garment in it. The very first sweater she had ever knitted. She had worn it the first time she had gone to Gravity Falls.

It was fuchsia with a shooting star that sported a rainbow tail across its front. She had used entirely too much yarn while making it and as a result it was extremely thick, heavy and slightly too large for her. She only ever wore it on rare occasions, when she needed something that would make her feel both safe and let her hide from the world. She badly needed that right now.

There was also another reason she had picked this sweater, why it was her favorite, why she had made it first. She had always told everyone she just liked shooting stars, and rainbows, which, was technically true. When she had knitted it, the star had come first but that had been way too obvious. So she had added the rainbow tail to throw everyone off and it had worked. Her sweater had a star, because her brother had a birthmark on his forehead. A birthmark that was the nickname everyone called him by. A birthmark shaped like the Big Dipper. And the star on her sweater was the north star that his birthmark, and the real Big Dipper, pointed to. This sweater was the expression of the bond between them.

Mabel yanked the sweater over her head but did not put her arms through the sleeves nor push her head up through the neck hole. Instead, she stayed inside the womb of wool, hiding away in sweater town.

Sweater town was something she had created when she was very little. It was a safe place she could go where the bad things of the world couldn't get to her. It was a place to hide when she needed to escape the troubles of the real world. It was her sanctuary of the mind.

She wasn't exactly sure what age she had been the first time she hidden herself away but it had been her brother who named it when he first found her. It had also been her brother that had convinced her to come out.

She had of course been to sweater town many times. And every time her brother had always come to make everything better, to guide her back to reality, to save her. He wouldn't bring her back this time. No one would.

She started to weep again at this last thought. Her brother had saved her. He had always saved her. He had always came to her rescue. Without him, she was lost, utterly and completely. She was a twin without her twin. Alone for the first time in her life. Alone forever.

Sweater town wasn't really helping the way she had hoped. Instead of finding a make believe world full of unicorns and dragons and hot vampires her brain kept reminding her of things she'd rather not remember. Bad thoughts continued to drifting through her mind, keeping her from escaping. She sunk deeper into her garment, letting it bunch up above her head. She pushed out her arms to make it feel tighter, like a hug.

Here she was safe. The outside world and the terrible things that happened there couldn't hurt her in here. In here, it was just her... just her...

She let out a gasping sob.

It was just her! Dipper was gone! He was really gone and she was left behind. She had lost everything that mattered in her life in an instant!

She pulled her legs into the sweater, hugging them to her chest. She rocked back and forth trying to find the comfort that wouldn't come. The numb feeling that had been with her since she had awoken suddenly washed away. Instead, she felt like a raw exposed nerve as a new wave of pain wracked her. She began to sob and chant Dipper's name anew.

Her thoughts focused only on him. On his timid smile, on his adorable sneeze, on his nerdy interest, on the video games and novels he enjoyed so much. She thought about how he was always there for her. How they had been there for each other.

Mabel retreated even further into her thoughts. Deeper than she had before. Anything that wasn't her brother was pushed from her mind. She curled even tighter, her feet slipping under the hem of the sweater so that no part of her body was visible outside it.

"Dipper," she wailed in pain. That horrible, terrible, awful moment where her life had ended replayed in her mind. Dipper pushed her. "Dipper! Dip-" Abruptly, the world tilted, as she remembered falling. She felt the carpeted floor tumble out from beneath her. She began to fall for real, not just in her memories. "Dipper!" she screamed, no other words able to come from her addled brain.

She was falling like some great hole had opened underneath her. Above, the sweater seemed to stretch on for infinity, up into the sky. There was no below for her to see, just her own curled body as she fell into nothingness.

Then, as quickly as her descent had started, her feet hit the ground with a dull thump. She stood, poised like a cat in unfamiliar surroundings. She was in some kind of attic type thing, most likely an attic. Something in her brain jumped and waved its arms trying to get her attention as her eyes swept across the room. There was a familiar triangular window on the far wall and two very familiar looking small camp beds on either side.

She shook her head. For a moment all the feelings of hurt and loss left her as confusion took hold. What in the heck had just happened? One second she had been in sweater town and the next she had fallen out of the sky into...

It all suddenly clicked, the Mystery Shack! This was the room she and her brother had shared all summer long. She knew her imagination was good but this was unreal. Except, the problem was it was too real. The wood floor beneath her bare feet, the moldy smell in her nostrils mixed with something familiar and painful and the slight chill in the air all told her this couldn't possibly be the work of her imagination or even her memory. Wherever this was, she was really here.

"Well, it's smaller than I remember it," said a voice that sent icy chills down her spine. "And you don't mind sharing a room again, right? Mabel, are you alright?"

No. Hot-fudge-ing-sundae. Way.

She stood frozen, her mouth hanging open, her eyes practically popping out of her skull as she stared at her brother. His stupid orangeish-red shirt and ugly blue vest. His stupid brown hat that Wendy had given him and he never took off. His stupid adorable face. She finally realized the familiar and painful (because it belonged to him) smell in the air of his pine scented deodorant that she loved to tease him nonstop about.

"Dipper," whispered Mabel.

"Uh... yes?" asked Dipper, clearly confused. Although, not as confused as when she abruptly, and without warning, leapt towards him, arms and legs wrapping around him in a bone crushing hug. The force of the tackle-hug and the added weight of his sister clinging to him caused Dipper to topple backwards onto the ground.

"Dipper! Dipper! Dipper! Dipper!" shouted Mabel, as she hugged him tighter than ever before. She began to kiss him all over his stupid adorable face, from cheeks to forehead to nose. His voice protesting loudly as he tried to squirm free. She hadn't kissed her brother's face in years (he didn't like it) but she didn't care. She could have kissed him on the lips she was so happy! He was alive! He was here! She could feel his warm, sweaty, noodly, body filled with life and energy, and desperately trying to wiggle free.

"Mabel!" Dipper gasped. "Stop it! You're crushing me! And stop kissing me! I told you I don't like it!" At last she let him go and clamored off him, her heart racing in her chest, her breathing ragged like she had run a marathon. Dipper gasped for air as he sat up looking more confused than annoyed. "What has gotten into you?" He was wiping at the spots on his face where his sister had smooched him in joy.

"Dipper," Mabel said, as if this explained everything.

"Yeah?" said Dipper, searching his twins eyes for an answer.

"Dipper, Dipper Dipper Dipper," Mabel said in one unbroken chain. Dipper looked even more confused.

"Mabel, is this some kind of new game?" he asked. "Because, I'll be honest, I don't really get it." She shook her head vigorously, trying to find the right words, the right thing to say. She wanted to ask how he was here, how he was alive and what was going on. Instead, what she said was:

"Dipper! Dipper Dip - per Dipper-Dipper. Dipper Dipper Dipper... Dippeeeeeeeeeeeer!"

"Okay, uh-huh," said Dipper with a nod. "Mabel, are you going to be like this all summer long?" She felt even more confused. It was November. Summer had just ended a few months ago. Her eyes swiveled to the window and she could see trees outside. Lush green trees. It didn't look like winter outside the window. She looked back to Dipper in confusion. "Mabel, you are kind of starting to freak me out here. What's wrong? I know it might just be a game to you but say something other than my name, please."

She stayed silent for a long time. There was so much to be said, so many things she needed to know. But she also knew what the next words out of her mouth were going to be. So she just looked away instead. Trying to find something to give her time to think.

By the door she saw their luggage. One of which was her purple and pink polka-dotted roller bag, complete with stickers peppered all over it. The other was her brother's practical tan roller bag, which she had covered in more manly stickers for him.

Her eyes went elsewhere, the room was much like they had left it, that is, until her gaze traveled upwards. Where a ceiling should have been was instead the folds of a sweater. No, not a sweater, sweater town. It was completely and totally impossible. She... she was in sweater town. She was deeper into the make believe reality than she had ever been before. She was so far down that she had created an entire world to escape into. It was the most real thing she had ever imagined, ever.

She felt hands come to rest on her shoulder. Very gentle, very real hands. Her eyes were dragged down from the sweater ceiling above.

"Mabel... please," Dipper whispered, incredibly real concern in his eyes. She opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again.

"Dipper," she said quietly at last, than lunged forward and hugged him, just as tightly as before. "DIPPER!"

It took Dipper a moment before he returned the awkward sibling hug that she was crushing him into. She was sobbing into his shoulder now. The words just wouldn't come. No matter what she commanded her voice to say, only his name kept coming out.

"Mabel, what happened?" asked Dipper in confusion. "You were completely fine the whole bus ride up. And the only time we've been apart since we left the house this morning was at the rest stop." She just hugged him tighter, letting her tears flow out and shaking her head. She had no idea what he was talking about. And she realized, he had no idea what _she_ was talking about either.

"Dipper," whined Mabel. "Dipppppeerrrrrrrr!" He rubbed her back as he held her, trying to reassure her.

"It's okay, I'm here," said Dipper. After a very long while he finally said, "Now, uh, can we just pat-pat and stop hugging please." She nodded against his shoulder, knowing that there were literally no word she could say to him right now that he would understand. She gave him one last squeeze. Then, together, they both patted each other's back, Dipper saying "pat-pat" as he did and Mabel staying silent. They broke apart and continued to sit awkwardly on the floor in a long moment of uncomfortable quiet that seemed to stretch on forever.

"You... aren't going to tell me what that was all about, are you?" asked Dipper. She smiled weakly but just shook her head, not trusting her brain to come up with any real words. "Alright, well, let's get settled in. Then we can go see what the dinner plans are, I think Soos said something about cooking for us."

She had nearly forgotten but the Mystery Shack wasn't run by their Grunkle Stan anymore. He had passed that on to his handyman, Soos. Stan and his brother Ford had left to sail around the world at the end of last summer. She had never had any of Soos' cooking before but - Mabel shook her head. Wait. No. This wasn't real. Her family hadn't sent her anywhere! She was at home, in her room, in her sweater, in her mind!

She looked upwards and reaffirmed that the ceiling still remained the inside of her sweater. It was. She could even see up through the neck hole and back into her room. Well, at least the ceiling of her room.

This wasn't the first time she had encountered a fantasy world. Bill Cipher, the evil triangle of doom, had trapped her in a make believe reality before. It had been a fantasy that catered to her every whim and desire. A world where she could make her dreams come true and craft reality as she saw fit. It had been a prison she would have never wanted to escape from, if not for her brother.

Even though this place was visually nothing like what MabelLand had been, it still felt hauntingly similar. It didn't have living stuffed animals or waffle guards or brightly colored building or theme music playing from the sky. It just had one completely impossible thing she desired more than anything else, her brother and he was alive. And she never wanted to leave him.

"Dipper," said Mabel quietly. Her brother let out a slightly annoyed sigh but answered with a "yes?" as he continued to unpack his things onto the bed on the left. "Dipppeerrr," she whined, trying to get his attention.

Dipper finally looked back over his shoulder at her, one of his eyebrows raised in confusion, trying to figure out her strange game. She knew words wouldn't do the trick so she had to come up with something else. Maybe she could find something to write on, or color in, or cover in glitter (preferably all of the above). No, there was no time for that now, maybe later. She settled on the incredibly simple and unstylish form of communication. She pointed up at the ceiling. Dipper looked confused so she pointed more vigorously upwards. When still he didn't catch on she pointed with both arms, doing a sort of funny little urgent dance.

"Sigh, alright, Mabel," he said, giving in. His gaze turned upwards but his facial expression didn't change. "Alright, I see, uh, wood and a vaulted ceiling and the same mold as last year, that one might have gotten a little bigger?" he said with a concerned frown in the direction of said mold.

She looked up too, back into the folds of the sweater high above. She looked back to Dipper who was looking at her, his expression back to being slightly annoyed. She pointed frantically again, first from him then to her eyes then up at the ceiling, really trying to convey the importance of looking. He sighed again and looked upwards once more.

"Okay, I dono. I see some spider webs, maybe? And is that an old hat and - Wait!" he shouted suddenly. She felt her eyes go wide. "Is that a wild bat up there! That's a bat, hanging on the rafters of our room! You've to be kidding me! I'll go find a broom." Dipper started for the door but she grabbed his hand as he passed her. He looked at her in confusion.

"Dipper," she whispered.

"I'm just going to find a broom then I'll be right back," said Dipper. She didn't let go of his hand. She was completely unable to see any bat or rafters or ceiling above them. And it seemed that Dipper was completely unable to see sweater town. Not a good sign. "Mabel! It's a bat!" complained Dipper, miss interpreting her not wanting him to leave for her not wanting him to shoo it away. "Although I am actually kind of surprised there isn't a goat on my bed again," he mumbled mostly to himself.

She stood abruptly, not relinquishing his hand. She was afraid that if she let him go he might vanish in a poof of smoke.

"You want to go with me?" asked Dipper in confusion. She nodded vigorously. "To get a broom?" he continued, his voice deadpan. She nodded even harder. "Fine, alright, let's just go." He rubbed the bridge of his nose in mild annoyance.

Dipper led her out into the hall of the home they had spent so much time in last summer. They were on the very top floor, hence attic. Outside their room was a small landing, at the end of which was the small bathroom they would again have to share.

They checked their bathroom first. It was just as she remembered, small-ish, with a shower-tub - and its hideous shower curtain - on one side. On the others side was the toilet they had to take turns cleaning and a mirrored skin. The room didn't have a light switch but rather a pull string lamp in the center. Although the small fogged window usually let in enough light that they didn't need to turn on the light.

The bathroom also did not contain a broom. Dipper didn't comment on the room's lack of brooms but there was a small frown on his face and she followed his gaze. He was probably thinking about having to take turns cleaning the toilet.

After a long moment, he finally gave her hand a tug and they left the bathroom behind. The stairs leading down were very narrow and there was another landing below. Together, hand-in-hand (and other hands on the railing) they climbed down the stairs.

The shack oddly had no second story, just an attic. It of course also had a secret basement level, two of them. Mabel had often wondered if there was also a secret second level between attic and the rest of the house. When she had asked her Great Uncle Ford about it near the end of last summer his response had been "Of course not," but the shifty look in his eyes made her think he wasn't being completely honest.

Broomless, they continued down the main, slightly wider, stairs to the ground floor. This lower area seemed far more normal, with a TV room across from the front door and a kitchen just ahead of them. Of course, it was anything but normal. Most of the building had been transformed into a sort of side show attraction, with crazy made up creatures and fake 'wonders' to behold.

Still, this part of the house was normal-ish. So, surely the kitchen would have a broom in it. Dipper must have thought the same thing as he made a beeline for the kitchen. But they stopped as a familiar gruff voice cut them off.

"You kids all done unpacking?" asked the voice. Mabel turned her head to see an overweight, elderly man, resting in a recliner. His white sleeveless tee-shirt was stained with something brown and his pink bunny slippered feet rested on a footrest that appeared to be some kind of dinosaur skull. If this had been any other time, any other day, she would have leapt across the room and wrapped her grunkle in a huge attack hug. But there was no way she was going to let go of her brother's hand.

She also felt a twinge of confusion. Wasn't their uncle supposed to be out sailing with his brother? What was he doing here? And where was their Great Uncle Ford? She didn't have anyway to ask any of those questions and she supposed for the moment, it was the least concerning of the issues around her.

"There's a bat in our room," explained Dipper unenthusiastically. "Do you have a broom or something I can get it out with?"

"HA! Good luck with that, kid!" laughed their Grunkle Stan. He was amused in a way that she found both charming and a bit mean spirited at the same time. Like he enjoyed Dipper's distress. "And what's with the hand holding?" He pointed at Dipper and Mabel. She squeeze her brother's hand tighter but her brother tried to wiggle free.

"So, do you have a broom or not?" asked Dipper, his voice squeaking as he talked, a sure sign that he was extremely embarrassed. If things hadn't been like they were, she would have let go of his hand. But not today, not right now.

"Yeah, sure, kid," said their Grunkle, resting back in his chair before hollering as loudly as he could, "SOOS! SOOS GET IN HERE!" There was the rumble of distant footsteps, followed by the thunder of some great wild animal charging through the hallways. A huge shadow loomed out of the dark ahead of Dipper and Mabel. For one terrible moment an awful, horrible, painful memory tried to force its way out of her brain, to replay in every detail for her.

She lunged forward, her arms wrapping around her brother, holding him tightly once more. She would not let him push her away again, whatever they faced, it would be together!

The great monster stopped inches in front of them. The shadow form took a step forward into the light and a very large, very tall man, with a face somewhat like a gopher appeared. His question mark shirt was gone. Instead he was dressed in a black suit extremely similar to what their Grunkle used to wear, he even had their Grunkle's hat and eye patch.

"Yes Mr. Pines! You summoned me?" asked the man named Soos.

"Yeah, help these kids find a bat or something," said Stan, waving his hand, lost in his TV show again.

"Actually, we need a broom to get rid of a bat hanging out in our room," corrected Dipper.

"Oh, sure thing dude," said Soos with a nod. He leaned over so he could look at her, still hugging her brother tightly as though she was hiding timidly behind him, "and dude-et. I've dealt with this bat before. I know how he thinks, how he moves, how he-"

"Soos, just get rid of the darn thing!" complained Stan, not looking over.

"Yes, Mr. Pines!" reaffirmed Soos, standing up tall once more and adjusting his hat. "Soos, away!" he called, rushing up the stairs.

The twins stood awkwardly in the hallway for a long moment. Then Stan said, "look, either come in and watch TV or go away, you're distracting!" She felt her brother trying to squirm out of her arms. She let go of the hug but grabbed his hand tightly again.

"I guess we could do with some TV watching," said Dipper. "Right, Mabel?" She just nodded as her brother led her into the TV room.

A second chair had been added to the room but it was currently occupied by an older lady, Soos' Abuelita, his grandmother that had raised him. Their Grunkle was currently occupying the only other seat in the room, clearly with no intention of moving. So, Dipper and Mabel sat on the floor. It wasn't uncomfortable but it certainly wasn't a chair. She leaned against her bro as they sat down.

"Mabel, what is up with all the touchy-feely stuff?" whispered Dipper. He didn't exactly sound annoyed, just confused and maybe concerned.

"Hey, keep it down," grunted Stan, still not looking over at them. "And knock off the touchy-feely stuff." She sat up straight and finally let go of Dipper's hand. Thankfully, he did not vanish in a puff of smoke. Inwardly, she sighed with relief.

Soon her brother and Grunkle Stan were engrossed in some show. Something they both seemed to be enjoying. But she couldn't register any of it. Sure she was looking in the direction of the TV but she couldn't take her eyes off her brother, for fear he would vanish the moment she looked away.

During an important part in the shows plot, a loud thud came from upstairs. Grunkle Stan reached behind his chair and pulled out a broom, which he used to jab into the ceiling above. "Soos! Keep it down!" he yelled.

Instinctively, Mabel looked up but she wished she hadn't. It wasn't a ceiling above her. It was sweater town. Quickly, she looked back down at the ratty floor carpet. Her hand shot back out and grabbed her twin's sweaty counterpart. Dipper gave her a confused searching look but her eyes stayed locked on the floor until everyone was looking at the TV again. Then, slowly, incredibly slowly, she looked up again. Sweater town still loomed above her.

–

Dinner was mercifully brief. Thankfully, Soos' grandmother had done the cooking, so they wouldn't have to suffer microwaved hot dogs or something. Melody, the woman Soos had fallen for last summer also joined them. She currently wore the Mystery Shack question mark shirt and hat, the same as Soos once had. There was no sign of Great Uncle Ford and his name didn't come up during dinner. It wasn't like she could ask where he was, so she stayed almost completely silent, saying her brother's name only twice and only in context.

Their Grunkle had given her more than a few confused looks but Dipper had nervously just explained it away as one of her silly games. Soos had asked if he could play too, saying only Melody's name for a few minutes until she pointedly asked him to stop. Stan on the other hand didn't seem completely convinced, with a brief, non-accepting response of "uh-huh" but he didn't press the issue further.

At last, when they retreated up the stairs towards their room, Dipper once again shaking free of their hand holding, their Grunkle called after them. "And be up early tomorrow! You two have a lot of work to do in the shop!"

Dipper responded with a, "Sure thing Grunkle Stan!" but Mabel remained silent.

They each used a different room to change. Dipper, winning the rock-paper-scissors contest, got to use use the bathroom first. She didn't really want to leave his side but she couldn't refuse the system they had used most of their life for deciding who got to use what first. Even if this was a dream, rock-paper-scissors was sacred.

She stood over her polka dotted roller bag. It was laid flat on the floor. She pulled open the unzipped front and looked at the bags contents. At the very top were her basic clothes, undershirts, skirts, socks and underwear, enough for a few weeks or so at a time. The rest of the bag contained a huge assortment of her sweaters.

She lifted the first one off the top, a turquoise garment with a winged tortoise emblazoned upon its front. She frowned. This was her bag, these were her clothes. Yet, she hadn't packed it. She hadn't existed here in this place until today, right? So who had packed the bag?

Pulling the sweater away, she searched deeper into the container. She didn't remember packing it but she could imagine herself doing it. It was a sort of strange memory-fantasy. Each sweater she pulled out had a story to it, a reason she had brought it. She could see herself agonizing over each sweaters inclusion. Every item she held was a wash of almost memories in her hands. The deep blue one with dolphins on the front had come over the deep blue one with seagulls. She could "sea" (ha! pun intended) the debate in her head like she had actually been there. Except, she knew she hadn't. This world and everything in it had popped into existence the moment she had arrived in sweater town. This was her fantasy, her imagination at work. Right?

Faster and faster, she dug through her sweaters, each one flying by in a blur until she reached the bottom. Because, she knew what the last sweater would be, the first thing she would have packed, the item that would come with her no matter what! Her first sweater, the one she was hiding in right now, the one that contained this whole strange place. Her shooting star.

It wasn't there. She checked again, setting each garment aside so that she could see them all laid out on the floor. Pink and blue and green and white and red and purple and every color that was a color lay at her feet. None had the rainbow shooting star upon it.

Her body began to tremble. There was no way she wouldn't have packed it. The current panic attack she was feeling was proof of that. She needed her safe sweater. She needed it right now.

Except, didn't she have it on? Wasn't she wearing it right now? She looked up again to see the fuchsia threads high above, spiraling upwards before opening up to a dark ceiling a bazillion miles away. Maybe a sweater couldn't contain itself? The next time she wanted to come to sweater town perhaps she should pick a different sweater, one she was less fond of so she could have her favorite one here?

She shook her head. No. That was stupid! This place was all made up, so what good would that do? And besides, she needed her shooting star. That was how she got here... Wasn't it?

She shook her head again. She had gotten way off track, all she needed to do was get changed into her nightshirt but she was still just kneeling on the floor. Quickly she riffled through her clothes but abruptly stopped as her hands touched one of her sweaters. She had overlooked it the first time. No, she had deliberately ignored it in her search for her shooting star.

The sweater itself wasn't bad. It had the face of a kitten on it and letters wrapped around it proclaiming their cuteness. Up until a few hours ago, it had been among her favorites. Then it had been torn up as she rolled across the asphalt. It had been stripped off of her by a nurse insisting it was too dirty to wear. It had been soaked in her brother's blood...

Mabel tossed the sweater away like it was some venomous monster. She would never, ever wear that one again. In fact, she stood and retrieved it from the floor before stuffing it into the trash bin. She would never ever see it again! Good riddance!

Dipper came back in as she was stomping down on the sweater forcing it into their trash bin. His eyes gave her a quizzical look but she didn't explain what she was doing.

"You aren't changed?" he asked. The sweater search had thrown her off track. "Well, bathroom's all yours."

She gave the sweater one last stomp then returned to her bag. She fished out her nightshirt and a change of underwear before heading off to the bathroom.

Normally, she would have taken a long shower, complete with some singing and even some ill advised dancing but not tonight. Tonight she - she stopped as she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Her sweater…

No wonder she hadn't been able to find it! She was wearing her shooting star sweater! She looked down unsure how she had missed it. The answer was easy though, all her thoughts had been focused on her brother.

Yep. She had it on. She looked up into the twisting sweater ceiling above her. She had it on twice. That made her brain hurt.

She didn't keep the sweater on for long though as she change into her long powder blue nightshirt (strangely enough the one she had been wearing in the real world too) and started to brush her teeth. She paused though as she looked at her reflection. Something about how she looked was wrong but she couldn't put her finger on it. She looked like she always did but something was missing, something she knew should be there. She spat out the toothpaste into the sink and quickly returned to their room.

Dipper was sitting on his bed, mystery novel in one hand and ballpoint pen clicking away furiously in the other. Up until three years ago, when they had been ten, they shared the same room at home. And this behavior of late night reading and pen clicking had been part of the reason they had asked for separate rooms. It had been a hard transition at first and on some nights, one of the twins would end up finding themselves in the others bed.

Staying at the Mystery Shack had put them back in the same room and while Mabel hadn't minded for the most part, Dipper seemed to really want his own space. It had all come to a head last summer when they finally got their wish but that hadn't even lasted a night. The transition home back to separate rooms had been rough for both of them. Just a week ago, they'd had a sleepover, with Dipper in a sleeping bag on her floor - she wasn't going to sleep next to his smelly socks.

She looked at her own camp bed on the right side of the room. It had warm blankets on it and a soft pillow but it was as uninviting to her as a cold slab of stone. She looked at the ceiling and the folds of the sweater above. A little shiver run down her spine. She had been in sweater town for hours now, longer than she had ever been before. She didn't know what was going to happen, how long she could stay here. She didn't know anything. Anything except...

Her eyes traveled down to her brother, focusing on him. She stared at him like she couldn't believe he was there. He must have felt her stare because he eventually looked up at her.

"Mabel, what's wrong?" he asked in confusion. "You're kinda freaking me out just staring at me." There was a sadness in his eyes and for the tiniest of tiny moments she was back in the street frozen in time. He had the same expression on his face right before - before it had happened. She shook her head, casting the memory aside, trying to forget with all her might.

When she didn't say anything and didn't move, Dipper continued, "What's up with you today? You were all chatty and happy on the bus ride but as soon as we got into this room you just started acting totally weird! Even for you!"

She looked away, there was so much she wanted to say to him, to tell him, to ask him. She shook her head again. Than returned her stare to her brother, trying to will him to read her mind. He couldn't of course, so he just stared back in confusion. After a long uncomfortable silence she let out a sigh of frustration at her own inability to project her thoughts and marched over to Dipper's bed. She looked deeply into his eyes willing the words to pass between them that she could not say.

"Uhhhhh, okay, Mabel... stop looking at me like that. Just tell me what's wrong!" said Dipper. "You know you can tell me anything! We tell each other everything!" She nodded. Dipper waited. He seemed to be wanting her to finally cave and talk but she of course could not.

"Mabel, this is really worrying me," continued Dipper when she stayed silent. "You haven't said anything but my name since we came into this room! Please say something, anything else! You can even say my real name! I promise I won't get mad! Just say something other than Dipper!" He looked at her pleadingly. She wanted to say something, she really did, more than she ever had in her life. But... but she couldn't.

"Dipp...er," whispered Mabel.

"You must be cursed!" cried Dipper, whacking himself in the head. "Why didn't I see it before! That's what you've been trying to tell me! You can't say anything but my name! I'm such an idiot! I didn't put it together until just – why are you shaking your head, it's not a curse? " Dipper closed his mouth and the pen in his hand began to click away. He loved mystery and it occurred to her this might just be the biggest mystery they had ever faced. He studied her intently looking her up and down as if searching for physical signs that would give him some clue.

"Okay," he said thoughtfully. Dipper reached for the small notepad on his nightstand. He flipped several pages. "It's not a curse." She shook her head. "It's not a game," again, she shook her head. "You haven't lost your voice-"

"Dipper," she affirmed, rolling her eyes.

"Right, right, you can still talk but only say my name," he mumbled to himself." He lapsed into silence. "Maybe you could just write it down for me?" He offered her his notepad and quickly she snatched it from his hands. Furiously she began to write. She had so much to tell him. Like about about sweater town and that she didn't remember coming here at all. And… and things she couldn't bring up yet but that she wanted to tell him when she was ready.

She finished her scribbles and handed him back his notepad. He took it eagerly but the expression on his face fell once he saw what she had written. "Really?" he asked, he turned the pad so she could see it. The lined paper was filled with a single repeating word over and over, 'Dipper.'

She mashed her hands into her face. "Alright, so, you can only say 'Dipper' and only write 'Dipper.' This is one heck of a challenge Mabel and you promise you aren't just trying to mess with me?" She nodded so hard that her headband came lose and her curly brown hair whipped around her head. "Okay, okay. Let me think about it overnight and we can approach this thing in the morning, alright?"

It took her a long time to nod her head in agreement but it didn't seem like they were really getting anywhere. Maybe a good night's sleep would even fix her speech problem?

The two of them waited in silence for a long while. Dipper clearly seemed to expect something from her and Mabel from him but neither said anything. Her comments would have been unhelpful in anycase. Dipper cleared his throat. "Goodnight, Mabel." he said.

"Dipper," she said back with a nod. Neither moved. Another long awkward moment passed.

"Uh, Mabel, your bed is over there," said Dipper, his voice squeaking. She glanced across the room to the uninviting bed. It looked cold and dark and lonely. She didn't want to be alone. Not tonight. Not so soon after she had just stopped being alone. She put her hands on the side of Dipper's bed longingly. He looked at her hands. "You want my bed, don't you? Alright, fine, we can switch." She shook her head then looked pleadingly into his eyes again, trying to will him to understand. And he finally seemed to. "You, uh, want to sleep here tonight?" he asked uncomfortably. She nodded. "Aren't we a little old to -"

"DippER!" she said, cutting him off with a warning tone. Than she looked pleading again, wishing she could just say one other word, just a 'please' would be enough, that was all she needed. She tried desperately, "Dipppeeeerrrr..." At last Dipper rolled his eyes.

"Fine, but just tonight," sighed Dipper, scooting over and turning up the covers so she could climb in. With a fair amount of exuberance she did so before throwing her arms around him in a hug. "Hey, no more hugging today! Just - just stay on your side." She let him go and nodded thankfully. "Just for tonight, okay?" She nodded that she understood, although, technically, she wasn't making any promises.

Dipper placed his notepad, book and pen back on the nightstand as she lay down to get comfortable. Then he clicked out the lamp and the room went completely dark. "Goodnight, Mabel," Dipper whispered as he lay down beside her, turning his body away so that he faced the wall.

"Dipper," she whispered back, rolling over to face her brother's back and stare at the brother she had only dreamed she lost.

* * *

Authors Notes:

I hope you enjoyed this first installment of this pretty crazy story. I struggled about publishing this or not, but, here we are, so...

Very briefly. The whole thing is written, I'm just going through cleanup and editing. It's fifteen chapters in length and I currently plan to publish a new chapter every Saturday going forward.


	2. Chapter 2 - The Book

Sweater Town

Chapter 2 – The Book

By Starwin

* * *

When Mabel awoke it wasn't exactly morning. The harsh red letters of the alarm clock on her desk said it was just past 3 am. Her thoughts were all fuzzy and jumbled up. The room around her was unfamiliar and in the dark, she couldn't find any landmarks to let her brain connect the dots. Then something far more important intruded on her. Dipper.

Her hands swept out across the bed, searching through the sheets for his comforting shape but she found only more empty sheets. "Dipper," she whimpered pleadingly into the dark but there was no answer. "Dipper, Dipper, Dipper!" Quickly the volume of her voice went from panicked whisper to screaming terror. "Dipper! DIPPER! DIPPER!" she shouted.

The lights in her room blazed to life and her parents, both with expressions of anguish on their faces, stood at her door. _Her_ door. This wasn't the attic room up in Oregon where she had fallen asleep. This was her room, back at her house in California. Mabel took in the empty bed beside her before her parents quickly wrapped her up in their hugs. She continued to chant her brother's name uncontrollably into her mother's chest as her mom cradled her.

Dipper wasn't here. He was gone. Her brother, her twin, was lost, forever absent from her life. She was alone in the arms of her mom and dad. There was nothing but an empty void in her chest and a single repeating word spilling from her mouth. "Dipper."

It had been a dream, a wonderful, amazing dream where Dipper was alive and fine and happy. But it had been a dream. It wasn't real. He was gone and she was alone.

At last Mabel's voice failed her and all she could do was sob. Her father departed first, whispering into her ear and stroking her head with a sorrow filled smile of encouragement. Her mother stayed a bit longer, holding her, stroking her back and hushing her. She hugged her mom back just as tightly, the warmth and protective embrace was all that kept Mabel from coming apart at the seams. She wasn't sure how long they sat like that but her mom kept whispering into the top of her head, "it's alright honey, it's alright."

Mabel wasn't sure what was 'alright.' Nothing was 'alright' anymore but she didn't argue. It wasn't like she could have said anything anyhow. Besides, her mother's voice was calming her down. So she just sobbed until her tears ran dry and her mother laid her back down and told her to get some rest. On her way out, her mother repeated to Mabel that she loved her. She turned out the lights and closed the door.

Mabel did not go back to sleep. Rest was the last thing on her mind right now. Instead, she listened intently. Once she could no longer hear her parents footsteps, she clambered out of bed, falling to her knees and instantly regretting not landing on her feet. She touched her screaming skin through the fabric of her nightshirt to feel the bandages. She could still feel the painful spots beneath. Her injuries still felt fresh but she couldn't fathom what that meant. A jumbled up mess of thoughts were rolling around in her head and she was trying to sort out the pieces into some kind of sense.

Sweater town. She had been. She had gone someplace else, a whole other world, she was sure of it. The dream had felt so real! She tried to recall the details but they had mostly slipped away while she was crying in her parents arms. There were still bits and pieces though.

The Mystery Shack... Grunkle Stan... Dipper. Her eyes locked on one of her sketchpads and for a second time she fell painfully to her knees before scooping it up. A dream journal. That was what she needed. The sketchpad didn't have a very exciting cover, yellow with a hand drawing a picture of a hand. She needed to spice it up before it would be worthy of the task.

Luckily, construction paper was always near at hand and a quick ten minute makeover later, she had glued a shiny, golden, five pointed star over a burgundy colored background. Using a Pointie marker, she drew the number one inside the star. Or rather, she had intended to draw the number one. When she lifted the pen away, there was the letter 'D' instead. Her hand hovered above her newly created book. That… that probably wasn't a good sign.

She flipped the book open. The first few pages were filled with sketches, a skateboarding dog chasing a rollerblading cat. Her future dream car, it had twelve different seats positioned around her driver seat, for all the boys she was going to fall in love with. A uni-dragon - part unicorn, part dragon - and several other pages of ideas. She ripped them all out and tossed them aside.

Then she dove in, pen in hand and began to write, intent on recording everything she could recall about her dream. She stopped after the first sentence, reading it back and feeling her face fall. It should have read: _Tonight I dreamed I returned to Gravity Falls. Dipper was there, he was fine, everything was great! We hugged and…_

That was where she had stopped though. Because what she had actually written was: _Dipper Dip Dipper D dipper D dipper Dipper. Dipper dip dipper! Dip dipper dip-_

She looked blankly at the page, her brother's name repeated over and over. She threw the sharpie away, grabbing a different one and forcing herself to continue. _We watched cartoons, we had dinner and we feel asleep in eachothers arms, just like we used to do when we were little! He is alive! My brother is alive and fine and happy!_

She lifted the pen again. _Dippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer._

Mabel through the pen and the journal across the room. Stupid book. Stupid pen. Stupid brain! It was all so, all so… BLARGH!

She pulled her nightshirt up over her face, wanting to hide away in it. She rocked back and forth trying to calm herself down, trying to think what she should do now. She spotted the answer spread out before her. Her eyes focused on what she was meant to do. Her thoughts focused on the one and only thing that mattered right now. Getting back into sweater town. Getting back to her brother.

She popped out of her makeshift nightshirt hiding spot and started to crawl across the floor. But she instantly stopped her advance, rolling to her side in agony. She had forgotten about her battered knees! Cursing her stupid brain once more she worked her way back to her feet and walked to the object she needed more than anything else in the world right now.

Lying beside her bed, the only thing on her otherwise spotless floor (except for the scraps of construction paper), was her shooting star sweater. Her room could be a mess sometimes (she had kind of made it a mess a few minutes ago but that was an emergency) but she liked to keep it clean, unlike Dipper who... Her thoughts broke down as she thought of him, of his mess, of his loss.

She shook her head and slapped her cheeks. No. He was fine. In sweater town, everything was fine! It would all be great, super, fantastic, amazing, some other word for how wonderful - yeah, wonderful, that worked - everything was going to be in just a few seconds!

The word 'wonderful' was bitter in her brain. She recalled the last conversation she'd had with her brother and how she deliberately overused 'wonderful' to cheer him up. She doubted very much anything would be 'wonderful' ever again.

She snatched up the sweater from the floor and practically dove inside it. She curled up tight, hiding completely within its woolen walls, willing herself to fall down into the other world she had been in before. Nothing happened. She just sat there in sweater limbo, feeling just as awful as when she had woken up. She began to rock back and forth, that's what she had been doing when she had gone in the first time, right? She rocked and rocked and rocked until she lost her balance and toppled over.

For a moment there was that feeling of falling, as though she was tumbling down into another world. But the carpet stayed under her butt and and she fell back only the distance to the floor. She landed with a dull thump that sprawled her out of her sweater.

 _Come on you stupid thing!_ was what she wanted to say, but instead, she just moaned out a sorrowful, "Dippppeerrrrrr!"

After a few minutes of nothing, she emerged from the sweater, yanking it off rather than sliding it on. She looked at the garment, trying to see if there was something wrong with it. The sweater looked as fine as it ever looked. She slapped herself in the head. Of course, she knew why it wasn't working, what an idiot she was, it was so obvious. She shook her head at her own foolishness and opened her mouth to let out a laugh. Of course the sound that came out was, "Dip."

Great, she couldn't even laugh properly. BLARGH! She had to fix this. It's not like she wanted to be stuck saying Dipper's name over and over. She wanted to say other things! She really, really wanted to! She just, couldn't, it was like something in her brain had flipped over and now she was just stuck.

As long as she was with her brother though, it didn't matter. Maybe he could even sort it out for her. She just had to get back into sweater town. She slung the sweater over her shoulder and marched across the hall into her brother's bedroom. She halted just beyond the threshold, her bare feet rubbing against the soft carpet. This was the first time she had been in his room since... well, technically, since yesterday morning, when he had still been fine. When she had still been fine. When everything had been great, perfect - okay, maybe perfect was an exaggeration. Things had been good between them.

She remembered skipping in, her brother still fast asleep under his covers. She had launched herself like a cannon ball onto him. He had not been super happy about her wakeup method but she had simply broken down into a fit of giggles, rolling back and forth, preventing him from getting up. The memory brought a smile to her face.

After the long pause at the door, she moved determinately across the room. Normally she would have trodden carefully, avoiding his discarded socks and other smelly clothing. But she was in a hurry and if she had to step on a few stinky socks or even his used underpants it was something she was willing to endure. She paused beside his bed, looking over the unmade sheets.

When she had last been in sweater town, she had fallen asleep in her brother's bed, up in the attic of their Grunkle's shack. If she wanted to go back, that was where she needed to be now. She climbed onto the mattress and pushed the covers and pillows away to make room for herself. As she did, her hand knocked into something hard under Dipper's pillow. She pushed the fluffy thing away and her eyes lit up. His journal.

She set her sweater aside. Her hands shaking slightly she reached down for the book. Carefully, as if it were a delicate million year old relic, she lifted the leather bound journal in her hands. In the dim streetlight of the early morning she could make out some of the rough details. The cover was deep blue (her brother's favorite color) and placed in its center was a silver foil pine tree cutout with the number one on it.

She had made this for him not long after they had returned home from Gravity Falls. She wished she had been able to do it earlier but a belated birthday present would have to do. Making books by hand wasn't easy.

Originally, she had wanted to trace the constellation on Dipper's forehead for the icon on the front. However, after one failed attempt to get a good trace while he was asleep, she decided on the symbol from the hat he had worn all summer long. Also, their last name was pines. Also, also, it just sort of felt... right? She couldn't explain it. It was like her shooting star, it just felt right. Her eyes fell on her sweater beside her.

Setting the book in her lap, she lifted the garment and slipped it over her head. She tucked in her arms, legs, feet and head into the sweater. The journal was sandwiched somewhat uncomfortably between her flat chest and noodly legs. She let herself slide back into sweater town, to hide away from the world. Gradually, as she let the wool hug her tight she felt... she felt... nothing.

Mabel let out a frustrated raspberry. _This stupid thing! Why wasn't it working!_ She pulled the sweater tighter, still nothing happened. She whisper Dipper's name, the only thing she could say, nothing happened. She rocked, she bounced, she hummed. She did everything she could think of... Still, she remained firmly in reality, no matter how much she wanted to escape it.

This wasn't fair! One measly half day in sweater town was all she got! She was stuck here forever. She would never get to see Dipper again. She hugged the journal tighter against her chest. IT WASN'T FAIR!

The one person that mattered to her more than anyone else in the world had been taken away! A cold shiver ran through her body. The memory of the worst moment of her young life came unbidden to her. She saw the moment, the moment when the last flicker of life had left her brother forever.

The stiff bed vanished from beneath her and she began to fall, just like she had when Dipper had pushed her. It wasn't just a memory, it was really happening. She was falling, although there was no rush of wind in her ears.

Down, down, down into sweater town she fell. It felt a little like she was shrinking, although her nightshirt stayed the same size. Maybe the sweater was getting bigger? She wasn't really sure what was happening or how it worked. This wasn't really her area of expertise. She just made the sweaters man, she didn't imbue them with world altering magical portals. At least, she was pretty sure she didn't.

She landed soft as a feather in the exact spot she had been when she left, lying beside her brother in the camp bed. Her arm was draped loosely over him. She had scooted closer for cuddles during the night... Or her absence from this place, or, whatever had happened. In any case, she could feel the warmth of his body and his soft breathing with the occasional adorable snore.

Something in her brain took that moment to helpfully remind her this shouldn't be possible. The last time she had held her twin in her arms his skin had been cold, his body still, he had been d – NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!

NO!

She was not going to think that. She was never going to think that again. It wasn't true, it was a lie, a nightmare, a make-believe that had never happened! She was already burying the thought deep down as though it had never even existed. She buried her face in his back as the tears came again.

She had never been a great liar, especially not to herself. It had happened, that terrible moment had really and truly happened. She couldn't stop thinking it now that she had brought the memory forward. Dipper was dead. It was her fault. It was all her fault! He. Was. Dead!

She pulled her arm away from her brother and put both hands against her head. NO! She re-affirmed to herself. No, Dipper was fine, he was right here, beside her, asleep, breathing softly, totally and completely and totally fine!

"DIPPER!" she called out. Panic burst abruptly out of her as if a dam in her brain had broken. "DIPPER! DIPPER!" she repeated just as loudly.

With a start, the body next to her sat bolt upright in bed, his expression a mixture of confusion with a dash of panic. His eyes darted around the room, searching for the source of the danger that had caused his sister to wake him. Then, after a long moment, his gaze came to rest on the girl that was now chewing on bunched up strands of her hair and hugging her knees to her chest.

"Mabel?" asked Dipper, a fatigued sound croaking out of his throat. He coughed, trying to clear his voice, and tried again. "Mabel, what's wrong? Why were you shouting my name?" She looked at him but quickly looked away. She started rocking in place, chewing on her hair like she did whenever she needed to think really hard. Or didn't want to talk. Or was bored. Or wanted to know what her hair tasted like that day...

At the moment, she didn't want to talk because she knew what the next words out of her mouth were going to be. Not an answer to his question, that's for sure.

Dipper rubbed the bridge of his nose and his tired bleary eyes. He sighed. "Mabel... " He looked at her, at a loss for words. She wasn't sure but it seemed like her brother was trying to make sense of the situation and coming up blank. She continued to chew her hair, a down expression on her face. "Okay," sighed Dipper shaking his head. She didn't stop chewing or rocking and she certainly wasn't about to let her knees go, they were super safe and warm right now.

"Hey Mabel, what's this?" asked Dipper his hands fishing something out of the sheets. She turned her head slightly to see what he was talking about. However, she received an unexpected shock as she got a good look at his face. It wasn't the Dipper she remembered sitting next to her. Well, it was, but he was different. His hair was slightly shorter and their was the faintest wisp of peach fuzz on his chin that certainly hadn't been there last night. His face was also different in a way she could only describe as older. Even his body looked more lanky.

She tumbled out of bed and away from her unfamiliar brother.

"Mabel!" cried Dipper, setting something down on the sheets as he crawled over to look at her splayed out on the floor. "Are you alright? What's going on with you today? First you crawl into my bed this morning, something you haven't done since we were here last year, now you won't tell me what's wrong." A deep frown of concern on his not-quite-right face. "And where did you find this?"

He pulled something up from the bed beside him and Mabel felt her eyes widen. It was the journal. The blue, number one pine tree, journal she had made for Dipper. The journal she had hugged to herself before falling into sweater town. How the heck had that come with her?

"I thought I had left it at home," he said. He looked at her with questioning eyes. "Did you secretly bring it with you?" Not really considering what she was doing, she nodded. Somehow the journal had come with her into her dream. And she hadn't told anyone about it, for obvious reasons. So, technically, yes, she had secretly brought it with her.

Dipper looked confused for a long moment, then a smile of pure elation spread across his face. He nearly toppled out of bed and did something she was wholly unprepared for. He hugged her.

Over the last few years they had hugged less and less. It had become awkward. Well, awkward for Dipper. She had always been very loose with other people's personal space. At first she hadn't understood her brother's apprehension (in truth, she still didn't understand, who didn't like hugs?!). But she knew and respected her brother enough to know not to push the issue.

This was the first time in years since _he_ had hugged _her_ without asking for permission. She was so shocked that for a full ten seconds (well, eight and a half seconds but who was counting) she didn't hug him back. She just sat there like some kind of none-huggy-thingie. Finally she wrapped her arm around him and hugged her best-est bro-bo in the whole freaking universe. Yet, strangely enough, she felt somewhat awkward with the contact in a way she never thought hugs could feel. After a moment, Dipper pulled back, rubbing his arm somewhat uncomfortably.

"Sorry," he said, his face a little red as he released her. "I was just - this is awesome Mabel! Why didn't you tell me you had it!" She shrugged. "It's still one of the best gifts you've ever gotten me. I was totally freaking out when I couldn't find it. I mean, it has two years worth of notes in it and I don't have a backup copy. I really should think about scanning some of its pages-"

However, she wasn't listening to him. Something he had said derailed her thoughts. Some part of her brain raised its arms in a alarm and began to run around waving panic flags. She was slow to come to grips with it, her mind working like molasses. Two years of notes? That wasn't right, the book wasn't more than a month old now.

And something else was bothering her too. Her brother. Never mind that it shouldn't be possible for him to be talking to her right now, there was something else about him that was wrong. Her eyes swept across his body getting a good look at him. He certainly didn't look thirteen. But if he wasn't thirteen than that meant that she wasn't -

Her eyes shifted down to her night shirt and she nearly let out a scream of surprise. Instead, it was just a gasp of shock. She, wasn't flat anymore. Two smallish round bumps, not quite as big as her closed hands, (she brought her hand up side-by-side to measure, yep, just smaller) protruded under her nightshirt. The rest of her body didn't seem that much different but it was hard to tell looking through her own eyes. Sitting on the floor wasn't helping give her any perspective.

Dipper had said two years of notes, so he'd had the journal for two years? Did that mean they were fifteen now? No, it was summer. She had to be fourteen, with their fifteenth birthday only a month or so away. Her brain backtracked again as her eyes focused on her brother.

He was looking at her. No, he was staring at her but not at her face. His eyes were lower, off center from where they should be. Lower than they should be. She followed his gaze and felt a flush of embarrassment rush across her cheeks. Like her, he had also been staring at her chest.

"Dipper!" she cried, covering her body with her arm. She scooted backwards, bumping into her bed.

"Sorry! Sorry!" came Dipper's panicked voice. "I didn't mean to stare. And, I dunno, I was just worried because you have been acting strange this morning. I mean, more so than usual, and, I'm sorry!"

There was a long awkward silence between them.

"I wasn't staring at your - you know," said Dipper, breaking the silence. He was still hiding his face with the book. "I was looking at you, how beautiful you are. Don't get me wrong, I really like your sweaters and all... but you wear them all the time, and… you know, you have a great body. I mean! That came out wrong! I didn't mean it like that! I mean, you don't need to hide yourself!"

Mabel smiled, still feeling embarrassed but also feeling a little giddy. She liked it when her best bro was embarrassed too. It was way less awkward to be embarrassed together. He was so adorable when his brain didn't work.

She scooted her butt forward again as her brother continued to stammer. He finally looked up from the book. She smiled at him then blew a huge raspberry and waved the sleeves of her nightshirt at him. Dipper laughed as the fabric batted gently against his arms and face.

"Man, Mabes, you are being so weird today," said Dipper, "is this just another one of those phases, or - " his eyes widened slightly and he lifted his arm to look at a heavy duty adventure watch. She hadn't seen him put it on, so he must have been sleeping with it. Yeah, that was something her brother would totally do. His next words however caught her off guard. "It's only the fourteenth, I didn't think it was, uh, that time for you yet. Is it?"

That time for her? She tilted her head in confusion. Dipper winced.

"You know, the thing," he said looking very, very uncomfortable now. "Come on Mabes, don't make me say it. You know, the thing!" What the heck was her cray-cray brother talking about. He sighed. "Fine, you win, your period. It isn't that, is it? Is that why you're being so…" he sighed again, "Cray-cray."

She actually let out a snort of laughter when he said it, that must have been why he said it. However, he had also said something else. Her 'what-now?' Her period? That's what he had said.

She understood the basic principle at work, sort of. She had gotten a crash course in it last year from her Grunkle Stan when she had accidentally been switched into her brother's body. There had also been a, not as uncomfortable but still not great, talk with her mother about all that sex stuff. She, didn't recall it being the best most fun conversation of her life.

Still, her lady thing hadn't started yet. If she was super lucky, it never would! She was hoping it never would. Everything she learned about growing up so far sucked! Well, okay, not everything. That peach fuzz on her brother's face was cute. If she could talk she would have teased him over it for hours. And, these things on the front of her chest weren't so bad, although she hadn't really had a lot of time with them so… wait, he was looking at her, what had they been talking about? Her face reddened as she remembered.

She shook her head.

"Okay, so just acting strange because you're Mabel?" he asked. She took a second to think, then nodded, then blew another raspberry at him. He laughed. "Ha ha, okay I get it." He paused and glanced back down at the journal. "I'm really glad you found it though, the summer wouldn't have been the same without it. Thanks." She smiled at him and hit him playfully in the shoulder. "Ha ha - ouch," he rubbed the punch spot. "I thought you agreed no more hitting."

Dipper's stomach grumbled and a moment later, Mabel's did the same. "Guess it's time for breakfast?" She nodded. "Dibs on the bathroom!" shouted Dipper. He hurried to his feet and yanked a pile of unlikely to be clean clothing off the floor. He jogged towards the door before Mabel even had a chance to protest.

"Dipper!" she cried in a half upset half amused voice. He didn't stop though and was out the door before she had even gotten to her feet.

Dibs totally wasn't fair. First bathroom rights were always - ALWAYS - given to the winner of rock-paper-scissors! Besides, she couldn't have called dibs even if she wanted to. Totally unfair. And - and she should be more upset about it. Really though she just felt amused. First, second, it didn't really matter as long as they were both here.

Mabel went back to sit on his bed while her brother hogged the bathroom. Her hair chewing had stopped but she was still wrapped up inside her own head. Maybe it was okay that he had gone first, she needed some time to think.

This place, whatever it was, it was real. She wasn't dreaming this, she wasn't pretending or imagining or make-believing or... some other word for all in her head. At least, she was really, almost, maybe, sure this was real.

Her eyes swept over the room, looking for anything that did not belong. Yet, the room looked much like she remembered. The same beds, the same junk shoved into a corner. There was even the same untidy mess across the floor, as if Dipper had just dumped his things on the floor the moment he arrived.

Her eyes drifted upwards and the folds of the sweater continued to linger overhead in place of a ceiling. That was the thing that made her the most unsure about this. If it was real, if she was really here, in their Grunkles attic in Oregon, what the banana-ramma-pajama-pants was sweater town doing hovering above her? That shouldn't be there... right? That alone clearly indicated this wasn't real. But if it wasn't real then why did it feel so real? BLARGH!

Also, there was that journal thing! That was real! She had brought that with her. Dipper had held it, read it, if he wasn't real how could he have done that! Ha! That just proved he was real! Because the journal was real! Right…? But her brother had said there was also a journal here, he had just left it behind. So whose journal was it? Was it her brother's or… her brother's? BLARGH!

Also, also, and this was what was really nagging at her the most, what had happened before she arrived. Dipper said it was two years later than it should have been, never mind the wrong month. And she had obviously been here for those two years. Or someone like her had been here for two years. And for that matter what about the last twelve years? How different were those twelve years? BLARGH!

Also, also, also, what happened to sweater town when she wasn't here? Did it stop existing when she left? Would she be the Mabel of tomorrow, and if not, would tomorrows Mabel remember any of this? !

All of it made her head spin. She really couldn't get her mind around any of it, this was really Dipper's area of expertise. But she had no way to communicate any of it to him. She really needed a way to talk to him.

Not for the first time, she wished that she and Dipper had twin telepathy so that she could broadcast her thoughts into his head! That would be so cool. She shook her head. Sadly, Dipper almost never correctly guessed what she was thinking. Like, never ever, ever, ever.

"Hey, Mabel," came her brother's voice and a knock from the door. "I'm heading downstairs. Come on down when you're ready." There was a long pause in which he seemed to be waiting for her reply. For a very brief moment, she considered calling out to him. Being apart at all that first day here had been so painful. But he obviously wasn't going anywhere and she wouldn't have anything to say to him anyhow. Plus, she still needed to get changed. So she stayed quiet. "Alright, see you downstairs." She heard his footsteps moving away.

Mabel let out the breath she didn't realize she had been holding. She continued to sit on the end of Dipper's bed for a good minute or so more. Finally, she got off the mattress and moved over to her luggage to pick out today's attire.

She selected a pale green undershirt with matching green skirt, socks and underwear. She had decided to wear her watermelon sweater today. It started on a strip of green rind at the hem and moved up in layers until it was mostly watermelon red dotted with black seeds. To finish off the look she had selected a red hairband. Absently she dressed, pulling on her clothing without much attention. She was more focused on the strange unanswered mysteries of this place tumbling around in her head.

She headed for the door but paused in front of the mirror, staring at her reflection in the glass. She had just change, being briefly naked while she had done so. Yet, she hardly remembered doing it, like it was natural. She hadn't bothered to look over her older body at all. Seeing herself in the mirror gave her pause and refocused her thoughts on this familiar yet strange body she was in. She wasn't a lot different than how she expected it to be. Maybe a little taller, it was hard to tell.

Dipper was right though, with her sweater on, her chest really wasn't noticeable at all. Briefly she considered pulling all her clothing off. She did have the room to herself and she was curious to see how she had changed.

Yet, it didn't feel right, like she was invading someone else's privacy. It was definitely her body reflected in the glass. A strange, oddly shaped, older body but still her body. It was wrong somehow. She frowned and the girl in the mirror frowned back. She stuck her tongue out at herself and so did her reflection, that made her feel a little better.

She made her morning bathroom trip, brushed her teeth (stupid braces of course they still had to be there) and headed downstairs when she was done. About halfway down she caught part of a conversation Dipper and Grunkle Stan were having. She paused to listen because the first recognizable word she had heard was her own name.

"Okay, so your sister's a little odd, kid," replied Stan to Dipper's statement that she had missed. "I mean, you're a little odd too."

"Mr. Pines, I think we're all a little odd at heart," came a third voice that made her face light up. Soos. Of course Soos was here.

"Look, all I'm saying is that she is being a little stranger than normal today," continued Dipper. "Just give her some time, alright?"

"Sure, whatever you say, kid," said Stan.

"I'm serious," her brother continued. She stopped again feeling her insides well with affection. She loved it when her brother stood up for her. It reminded her that he wasn't just pretending to put up with her fun loving silly self. Nor did he stand by her side just because he was born into it. He really, truly, cared about her well being. "Don't tease her, not right now. Can you at least promise me that."

"I promise nothing," said their Grunkle. "So long as you two can pull your weight around here."

"Pull our weight?"

"Yeah, dude," said Soos. "There is always work to be done around the Shack. Even I, Sir Mystery, must take this time to fix the unfixable, right the wrongs and repair the broken!" There was a pause. "What, I'll always be a handyman at heart."

"Sir Mystery?" asked Stan flatly. "Soos, that doesn't even make sense."

"How about Mystery Man!" suggested Soos excitedly, "I could wear like a mask and a cape."

"Or," said Stan with a sigh, "You could just wear the normal outfit and keep calling yourself Mr. Mystery!"

"But how would the guests ever tell us apart!" cried Soos. "We would be indistinguishable from one another, like twins! Like triplets!"

"Soos," sighed Stan. "Look, anyhow, kid, you didn't think this summer would be full of laying around did you?" asked their Grunkle with an unsettling chuckle. "We're putting you two back to work in the Mystery shack."

"But…" protested Dipper.

"Hey, we all gotta chip in, kid!" said Stan, "me and Ford still own the place! And until he gets back, you gotta do what I say. And I say you and your sister gotta work!" Mabel continued cautiously downstairs, now that the conversation seemed to have shifted away from her. "Besides, you had fun doing it last year."

"Uh-huh," said Dipper, and she could almost hear her brother pressing his fingertips together. "Okay, counterpoint, we didn't get paid last year, or the year before that. How much are you going to pay us for our work this year?" She entered the kitchen. Dipper and Soos were both sitting at a small foldout card table. Their Grunkle was busy bustling around the kitchen preparing breakfast.

"Pay you? What, am I made of money!" asked their Grunkle.

"Aw, come on Mr. Pines, I'm sure we can figure something out," said Soos.

"Soos! I thought I taught you better than to pay if you didn't have to!" said Stan. His eyes fell on Mabel as she took the chair beside her brother. "Good morning sweetie."

"Good morning, girl dude," said Soos with a smile and nod.

She smiled and nodded back to each of them but didn't say anything. Their Grunkle shrugged but Soos frowned slightly..

"Anyhow," continued their Grunkle, "you've got room and board."

"And food, right?" asked Dipper as their Grunkle sat down with a single plate of toast, burnt bacon and scrambled eggs.

"You want food, help yourself," said Stan, waving a hand at the kitchen. Dipper sighed and started to get up, but Mabel put a hand on her brother's arm, looked him in the eyes and said-

"Dipper."

"What, you don't want to work in the shop?" asked Dipper. She shook her head. "Is that a shake that you do or a shake that you don't?" She shook her head again. "Wait, which one..."

"Maybe it's like two shakes for yes, like a double negative head shake?" interjected Soos.

She rolled her eyes and firmly pushed Dipper into his seat. She started bustling around the kitchen, seeing what food they had.

"Oh, you want to make us breakfast this morning." That finally got a nod, although she was too busy grabbing ingredients to look around. "Man, sometimes I wish we had twin telepathy powers or something."

She turned and said, "Dipper, Dipper!" before clapping her hands over her mouth and turning away to busy herself, her face beet red with embarrassment. She had meant to say, _I know, right?!_ Unfortunately she had forgotten that words weren't working for her right now. She could hear the room behind her pause for a moment as her Grunkle tried to process what just happened while her brother kept his mouth shut.

"Okay, odd might have been too light a term," said their Grunkle.

"Maybe it's a game of some kind, like we have to solve a secret code!" cried Soos.

"Or, it's just Mabel being Mabel," said Stan. "Although, I don't remember her being this odd. Well, yes, actually, I do. Is she always like this now?"

"Like this? No," said Dipper. Mabel was starting to dump ingredients into a mixing bowl she had found. She was focusing hard on the mixing instead of the listening. She wasn't doing a good job of either. "No, this is new, since like, this morning."

"Huh," said Stan. "Well, maybe she can work as one of the attractions, 'the one worded girl!'" Mabel could feel the red from her cheeks creep up into her ears. She continued to mix the rough white paste into smooth white batter.

"Hey, you promised!" cried Dipper indignantly

"I said I make no promises," retorted their Grunkle with a chuckle. "I'm kidding honey but I don't think I'll have you work in guest relations either. HA!" Neither twin laughed but Soos chuckled at the joke.

"Good one, Mr. Pines," he said.

"Don't patronize me, Soos. Look you two need to lighten up, this is summer, I'm not your parent, heck, I'm hardly a responsible adult. Go nuts, have fun, live a little, just so long as you get all your work done! And help push that merchandise."

Their Grunkle finished just as Mabel was starting to pour out the pancake batter. He hardly even gave her a second look as she stood by the stove (which she noticed she didn't need a stepstool to reach now). Their Grunkle was off to get ready for the day. Soos also bid them farewell (he'd had breakfast earlier that morning). He went off as well.

A few short minutes later, she was serving up pancakes to her brother and herself (of course). He was smiling at her. A weary, guarded smile. It wasn't until they were halfway through their breakfast that He spoke what was on his mind.

"I asked him not to do that," said Dipper, poking at one of the syrup laden pancakes he had been working on for the past few minutes. He looked at his sister, she had a cutesy remark ready to give him but the most she could do was smile and shrug. "Man I never thought I would miss your silly comments." He went back to poking his pancake. "I hope whatever is going on with you is just temporary, cuze, I miss you Mabes, without your words it's like you're not really here."

Not for the first time, she wondered if she was really here or if here really was. She wanted it to be. For sure. One hundred and a billion percent. This place was great! Because in this place, her brother was here.

They continued to eat the rest of their breakfast in silence. Dipper seemed lost in thought as he ate and she wanted to do almost anything but eat in silence. The almost anything of course was shouting her brother's name over and over. When they finished, her brother just continued to stare at his plate and it took her poking him to snap him out of it.

"Ow!" Dipper complained covering his eye. She had been aiming for his nose but missed. "What?" She stared at him. "Oh, right, you... uh, I guess you can't really answer." He seemed to ponder this for a long while. "You know I've never been good at guessing what you want, right?"

She sighed and rolled her eyes. Well, he had her there. He was horrible with subtlety. Sometimes they were on the same page about stuff, about fun things usually. But she was never going to just get her thoughts across for something as complicated as this. Heck, she didn't even know what was really going on! How did you tell someone something you didn't know that you couldn't even tell them!

"Right..." Dipper said, mostly to himself, nodding absently, clearly having no idea. "Riiiiggghhhhtttt..."

"Dipp-eeerrrrr," Mabel whined in frustration.

"Okay, first order of business, we need to find a way to communicate," said Dipper thoughtfully, nodding to himself. "You can't say anything besides my name but you can clearly understand other words. Which means, we have at least one way complex communication." He had produced a notepad from somewhere, most likely his pocketed cargo pants. "Maybe you could write notes?" He held out the pad but Mabel remembered the last time she had tried to write, she shook her head. "Okay, no writing either...

"But you can respond in at least a limited fashion," continued Dipper, slowly clicking a pen in his hand as he spoke. "We have at least a few modes of information, voice, which is only my name, not very helpful, but something. Body language, the way you look at me when I ask or say something stupid, not very helpful either. But you do have a way to say yes or no." She nodded. "Exactly. So all I have to do is find the right questions." She shrugged, sure, that was worth a go she guessed. But what were the odds he would ask the right questions? "Okay, yes, no and maybe? That last one isn't very helpful...

"Alright, the most obvious question first," said Dipper, clicking the end of his pen quickly as he both thought about his words and prepared to write down his findings. "Do you have any idea why you can't say anything but my name."

She felt her eyes widen just a little bit and she both shook her head and nodded at the same time, leaving her a bit dizzy. Why, oh why did he have to ask that? She knew exactly why she was saying his name, why it was the only thing she could say. Well, okay, she didn't know _why_ she couldn't stop saying it now, even though she wanted to. But she knew what had started it. That terrible moment, the one she didn't want to remember. She shook her head, realizing that she had inadvertently answered another question.

"Okay, not aliens..." he mumbled. Thankfully it had been a stupid question. "How about ghosts?" She rolled her eyes this time. "What, ghosts exist! Okay, if not ghosts, than - " She put her hand over his mouth and glared at him. After a moment he stopped trying to talk and she pulled her hand away. "Okay, right, good point, I can't just guess an endless list of stuff, we would never get anywhere... but not secret government agents that used some kind of mind blocky thingy on you, right?" She shook her head more out of annoyance than answer. Really, what were the odds of something like that? Actually, now that she considered it, maybe pretty good? Probably unlikely though.

Dipper clicked his pen faster, "Okay, so, you might or might not know the cause. But can't or won't affirm what it was. That does make it harder... Alright, next question. Uh, do you remember who I am?" She gave him a confused look. "I'm just checking if it's some kind of amnesia or something... where... you... only remember my name... okay, maybe that was a stupid question too." He looked down, then looked up, perhaps a little sad. "But you do remember me, right?" She nodded vigorously and grabbed her goofball nerd brother up in a tight hug. "Okay, okay, Mabel you can stop now! Air, need air! Mabel!" She finally released him.

Dipper gasped for a moment before finally relaxing. He gave a nervous little cough and returned to his notepad. For the very few questions he had asked, it seemed to take him a long time, and a lot of muttering to himself, before he finally looked up.

"Alright," he said at last with a nod. "I have no idea what's going on here." She felt her face fall in disappointment. Of course she hadn't expected him to have figured everything out but come on man, he didn't have anything? Finally he seemed to read her expression correctly and continued, "Give me some time here Mabel, let me think of some better questions to ask and I swear we'll figure this thing out, together, okay?" She nodded in agreement, a beaming smile upon her face.

* * *

However, the time Dipper was given to work on some more questions was cut short as their Grunkle appeared only a few minutes later and announced it was time to get to work. Really though, it was only time for Dipper to get to work and most of that work seemed to be cleaning. Her task had been, "Help your brother out, or whatever." So she had.

He swept, she dusted. Room after room filled with the bizarrest assortment of creatures and things she had ever seen, at least, since she had been here last time or the time before, or, whatever. It seemed that Soos had managed to add even more strange oddities to the collection. Their Grunkle and the former handyman worked as a team, handing off guests to one another as they led them through the Mystery Shack.

The place was just as strange and tacky as she remembered. A few of the odd things, like the stuffed rabbit wearing little tiny boots on each of it's feet, looked like her Grunkle had just slapped it together himself. Matters weren't improved when he was leading a tour through the room where Dipper and Mabel were cleaning. As the excited group of tourist admired the booted bunny, her Grunkle leaned over and whisper to her, "Ha, can you believe these chumps? I slapped that thing together last night!"

The day wore on but the amount of people coming through was astoundingly high. Apparently, having the original Mr. Mystery back in town really brought out the crowds. As did, to Mabel and Dipper's horror, the Mystery Twins.

Several tourist stopped to take her and Dipper's photo. She had no idea what was going on until they went to clean the Room of Nightmares. Something that couldn't have been more aptly named. It had once been the parlor where they had happened upon cursed wax dummies, which, naturally, had tried to kill them. But that wasn't even half as terrifying as what it held now.

The room was a recreation of Weirdmageddon, complete with a wax statue of the demon Bill Cypher at the front. It gave her the creeps and Dipper didn't seem very fond of it either. She was all too happy when they finally departed it.

Sometime before lunch, while they were cleaning the gift shop, their Grunkle appeared. The previous tour group had just departed, loaded down with tacky merchandise (really a bobble head of Soos? She poked the little statue again and its head jiggled. She giggled, okay, it was pretty fun).

"Alright," he announced. "Which one of you wants to go hang these 'Grand Return of Mr. Mystery' signs for me?"

"Dipper!" cried Mabel.

"Not it!" cried Dipper hurriedly, but too late. She always won in the battle of 'not it.' But of course, she hadn't said, 'not it.' Her brother frowned at her, thinking she had just volunteered him to do the work.

"Melody?" asked their Grunkle, addressing the brown haired woman working behind the counter.

Mabel and Dipper had helped hook her and Soos up this past summer, or - Mabel corrected herself - two years ago. She was still trying to figure out what was going on with the woman. Melody and Soos were definitely an item, but, she wasn't living at the shack, so, maybe she was still a girlfriend? It was so frustrating not to be able to just ask!

"Oh yeah, sure, I vote for the kid too," said Melody with a smile.

"Which one?" asked their Grunkle, clearly unhappy she wasn't volunteering for the work.

"Sure," she answered with a mischievous smile. Their Grunkle sighed.

"I would fire you all if I could," he said. "Alright, three against one, Dipper." He held out the signs for Dipper to take. Her brother looked confused and frustrated.

"Ah man, that's not fair!" complained Dipper as he took the signs.

"Life isn't fair, kid," said their Grunkle with a shrug. "Now go hang those things so we can part more of these saps from their money." Looking slightly dejected, her brother slouched off out the door to get to his task. Mabel watched him go, before taking a step after him, intent on following. "Whoa, where do you think your going?" asked her Grunkle. She looked up at him with a frown. If he thought he could stop her from chasing after Dipper, he was going to be mistaken. "HA! I'm kidding, I don't care where you go, have fun, kiddo." He produced a wad of cash from someplace and strolled off, counting it to himself.

Mabel stood there slightly confused for a moment, before the woman behind the counter spoke up, a smile in her voice. "You've been pretty quiet today. That's not really like you. I was half expecting a dance party or something." Mabel just smiled weakly at her. She hadn't really spent a lot of time with Melody, there had just been that hour or so when they had been fleeing for their lives from killer robots. Melody, though, seemed to know a fair bit about her. "Everything alright, Mabes?"

Mabel felt her eyes widened just a tad. 'Mabes' was the nickname her brother liked to say when he was worried about her. No other person in her life had ever used it. Yet, here was Melody, just casually throwing it out. Melody frowned, her head tilting to one side.

"It's just us girls, you can tell me what's bugging you," said Melody. Mabel smiled and shook her head. This didn't seem to be the answer Melody was looking for but she also didn't press the issue. "Alright, well, I'll be here if you need to talk." Mabel nodded her thanks and started towards the door. "Oh, before you go, you might want to take the hammer and nails. It will probably make the sign thing way easier." She nodded to the supplies their Grunkle had failed to point out and Dipper had not taken.

Mabel nodded determinedly, gathered up the hammer and the box of nails then headed out after her brother. As she made her way out of the shop she thought that maybe it was an okay thing that she couldn't speak right now. She had been dropped right into the middle of a life she didn't know. Words would only have made everything more confusing. Staying silent, people just assumed she was who she appeared to be.

Even her brother seemed to assume that. To him, this might just be a silly game or her normal strangeness. She frowned. He should know her better than that, right? It worried her that maybe he did, and the person that didn't know her was herself.

However, all of her thoughts were completely derailed as she stepped outside. She came to an abrupt halt just beyond the door. Her eyes swept across the sky, or rather, where the sky should have been. There was no sky. No cloud, or sun or blue, just endless pink folds of a sweater as high up as she could see. It wasn't just every ceiling inside the house, it was the sky! The whole, entire sky!

She shut her eyes tight then opened them. The sky remained determinedly absent. Sweater town loomed above her, reminding her vividly that this wasn't real.

"Mabel, are you okay?" called Melody from behind her, snapping Mabel out of her moment. She blinked again, the sweater-sky unchanging. She glanced back at Melody, smiled, gave her a thumbs up, dropped the hammer, scrambled to pick it up then dashed down the steps.

As she hurried after her brother, eyes focused on the ground rather than the sky, her thoughts drifted back to Melody. There was certainly a familiarity there that Mabel didn't remember. Even Melody seemed to know her pretty well. So, they got along than. Not surprising, she usually got along with everyone pretty well. Sure, there were some girls back at school that weren't super nice to her (but they weren't nice to anyone except each other and even then, she wasn't sure). And there were some boys that could have been nicer to her and especially nicer to her bro-

She felt her heart catch in her throat. No. She wasn't going to think about the bullies (fuzzy slippers she was already tearing up). No! Not about yesterday not right now. She shook her head and started to walk faster, trying to get her thoughts back on track.

She was in sweater town. Her brother was here, and fine, and someplace just ahead of her. She clutched the hammer and box of nails tighter in her hands and went from power walk into a jog. She wanted to talk to Dipper. She just didn't really know what to say to him.

BLARGH! Not having a voice was driving her nuts. She needed to get that thing working as soon as Mabelie possible! Of course, the one person she was sure could help - because, literally, his name was all over it - was walking away from her right now, a bunch of wooden signs tucked under his arm.

The forest around the building was very thick. The nearby trees had been chopped down long ago to make space for an uneven dirt parking lot. A dilapidated wood railing rain along the perimeter, marking the edge of the parking area. A tall totem pole marked the exit to the main highway.

She easily spotted Dipper as he trotted down the dirt road leading away from the Shack. Even from as far back as she was she could hear him muttering grumpily to himself as he went. She hurried to catch up to him but didn't call out, not yet.

At last Dipper stopped beside a tree to hang his first sign. She watched with a smile as he lifted the sign, stared at it in confusion. He checked himself for the missing tools that Mabel had and groaned in frustration. "Oh you've got to be kidding me!"

He turned just as she reached him, a huge smile on her face. For a second he looked confused, then she held up the box of nails and the hammer she had been holding behind her back. Dipper smiled.

"Always looking out for me huh?" he said, taking the hammer. As he reached out for the nails, the signs dropped from under his arm, narrowly missing his feet. Both Mabel and Dipper knelt down at the same time to pick them up but she put her hand on top of them and looked seriously at her brother.

"What, you want to help me do this?" She nodded. "But you volunteered – oh, yeah, that's right, you're only saying my name, right." She just smiled at him, he smiled back, looking a little embarrassed at having been angry with her. "Don't you have other things you want to do today? I mean, for the last couple of months you've pretty much talked to me nonstop, even though I have asked you to stop, about actually having the best most epic summer romance this year, even if it hasn't gone so great the last couple of years. I mean, Gideon still hasn't given up on you."

She stuck out her tongue in disgust. He might have been a reformed evil villain but no way! Dipper laughed. Oh how she had missed his laugh.

Had things been different maybe she would be off chasing after cute boys. Right now though, that was the last thing on her mind. Besides, how was she supposed to work her boy magic when the only thing she could say was her brother's name. Talk about awkward.

Gathering up the signs, she stood back up, offering them to Dipper. He smiled. "Glad to have you along on our little sign hanging adventure. Not sure it will be as fun as an epic summer romance but I'll try my best." She laughed and punched her brother in the shoulder playfully, dropping the signs on their feet once more.

* * *

They had been at the sign hanging thing for almost an hour. The stack Grunkle Stan had given them wasn't that big, maybe just fifteen or so. But as they were almost done, Soos had shown up in the golf cart and unloaded another batch of signs on them. "Mr. Pines said we'll need more coverage, and that your lifelong dream was to hang signs! That's pretty cool dude, achieving your lifelong dream already! Although, I thought it was to solve mysteries or something"

"It's not my lifelong dream to hang signs, Soos!" protested Dipper. But Soos just smiled and told Dipper would find it someday. She tried very hard to hold in her giggles, which was helped as Dipper piled the new signs onto her. The strayed off the road so that neither Soos nor Grunkle Stan could find them again and give them more signs. The two wandered deeper into the woods.

So far, Mabel had been pretty distracted, Dipper had been talking to her, mostly just his usual insecurities. He had started talking about Wendy at some point too. Apparently, last year the two of them had actually given the dating thing a try. Just once.

"And, I mean, I know it didn't work out," said Dipper. "But, I can't help the way I feel about her, you know?" She nodded. "I have to say, there is one good thing about this voiceless problem. You're a really great listener when you aren't interrupting me every few seconds." She stuck her tongue out at him again, then punched him in the shoulder, dropping the few remaining signs again for the hundredth time.

"Until you start speaking again, we need a better way for you to show affection than punching me in the shoulder," said Dipper, rubbing the spot she had been whacking him. She blew a raspberry at him. "No, I don't think that's a whole lot better."

They put up the last couple of signs. The odds of anyone actually stumbling across them out here in the woods was pretty unlikely. But hey, it wasn't their job to make sure people actually saw the signs. The two of them started back towards the shack. It was getting pretty late in the day and they hadn't had lunch yet.

Mabel was imagining what she was going eat, a huge multi-level super sandwich sounded pretty good right now. The kind you had to dislocate your jaw to eat.

"I can't wait to get back," said Dipper. "I've thought of some great questions to ask you. I think I'm even going to dedicate a page in the journal to this problem. Hopefully we can sort it out pretty quickly."

Mabel smiled, losing herself in the memory of when she had given her Dipper the journal only weeks ago. She had never seen him so happy. He had almost hugged her over it, almost, stopping just short of doing so. She had taken the initiative and moved the last couple of inches to hug him.

This Dipper (darn it, they were the same Dipper, right?) had hugged her when he had first seen it. Once more she was reminded that this wasn't real. Another quick glance at the sky confirmed it, yep, the sweater was still there.

It wasn't too long before they reached the Shack. The parking lot was oddly full for this time of day. Maybe the signs really were working? Dipper didn't seem to notice or at least didn't comment on it. She glanced one last time up at the sky before looking quickly down. It felt like if she looked up for too long she would fall into it. She grabbed her brother's arm hoping that keeping hold of him would keep her from tumbling away into the abyss above.

"What's wrong?" asked Dipper, before shaking his head. "Sorry, that's a reflex, I - " but whatever he was about to say was cut off completely as he pushed open the door.

A noise like a cannon erupted in front of them. There was shouting cheering, cries of surprise and laughter. For one terrible moment, Mabel thought today was their birthday or something, she didn't actually know the date. But the hanging signs announced WELCOME BACK MYSTERY TWINS!

The room was packed with people. It took her a moment to recognize some of them. There was so much to take in, so many people she knew had changed. She hardly knew who the beautiful black haired Asian girl was until she spoke, Candy, holy-hot-tolito! She looked amazing! And Grenda had become if possible even more muscular. Even Pacifica Northwest had come, and wow, wow, wow, Mabel didn't have words for how she had grown, she looked like a supermodel!

There was a flurry of hugs and greetings and cheering. People moved past in a blur as Dipper greeted them and Mabel just smiled and hugged wordlessly. Wendy and her friends, all older than Mabel remembered, greeted them too. She also didn't miss the awkwardness between her brother and the red headed girl he'd crushed on so hard.

However, she was most excited to find their Great Uncle Ford in the mix. Dipper seemed positively elated to see him there, even letting out one of his very rare girly squeals that was usually only reserved for the nerdiest of nerd things.

Ford explained that this had been his idea. If they had thrown a surprise party on the first day they arrived, Mabel would have expected it. To do it on the second day though, no one would suspect! And the signs had merely been a ploy to keep them out of the Shack during the setup.

Everyone seemed to want to talk to her, to ask about how her year had been, to catch up, to chat. But she couldn't. Luckily, Dipper had found an excuse for her, claiming that Mabel had shouted herself hoarse yesterday and couldn't speak. He was happy to catch people up and she listened with wrapped attention the first couple of times. After all, she was getting caught up on her life as well.

They had started high school this year, once more in all of the same classes except for one. Mabel had apparently joined the gymnastics team while Dipper had opted to just do the normal physical education route. Their studies were fine (he didn't elaborate) but really they were focused on continuing the mystery hunting in their spare time. Mabel knew she was only getting half the story of their lives but at least it was something.

Bits and pieces of her life crept in along the way. Apparently, she'd had two failed boyfriend attempts this year. One her parents had ended when they caught wind of it, she still wasn't technically allowed to date yet. The second she had broken off because, as Dipper put it, he had been a creep.

She also learned that she was still making videos in her free time, a series she had started last summer - her last summer, two years ago for this her, stupid time thing - called 'Mabel's Guide To.' Apparently, she had her own UsTube Channel (a popular video site where people put up mostly things about cats) where she posted her videos. Dipper even showed one of them on his smartphone to Grunkle Stan, who wasn't big on the whole technology thing.

The video was Mabel explaining cereal and what to add to cereal to make it more exciting. Glitter, the answer was obviously glitter, Mabel thought just as her other self added glitter to the bowl.

Gradually, the party began to wind down. Candy and Grenda said they would see her later, Candy strongly hinting at a sleepover sometime in the next few days. Did teenagers even do the sleepover thing anymore? Mabel didn't know but she certainly hoped so. Pacifica reminded her they had plans for their annual mini golf tournament on Wednesday. And Wendy punched Dipper in the arm and said they should go see that new summer blockbuster or some junk.

The party had come with food, so, there wasn't any dinner to be had that night. Soos and Melody were headed off on a date. Which left Dipper, Mabel, Stan and Ford alone. They all sat in the living room, now with more seating, and talked. Well, everyone but Mabel talked. She just listened.

Great Uncle Ford was recounting the epic adventure he and Stan had been having over the last few months. Apparently they had ended up deep in the jungles of Brazil, hunting down an ancient evil.

"So there we were, in it's lair at last," continued Ford, deep in his story. "And if you think Stanley's socks smell bad this place was even worse!"

"Hey! Your socks are just as awful!" complained Stan. And there was laughter from all of them

"True, but at least I wash mine from time to time," said Ford with a smile. More laughter.

"Dipper! Dip-er." Mabel shut up. _Stupid!_ She had tried to join in on the fun, to point out that Dipper could do with way more washing of everything. In the moment she had completely forgotten she still couldn't say anything! Everyone looked at her.

"Dipper, what?" asked Ford, looking puzzled.

"That's uh, just Mabel being-" Dipper began. But Ford raised and eyebrow and cut him off. Dipper took a deep breath. "Okay, not exactly, look, she hasn't been able to say anything but my name all day long." Mabel gaped at him, surprised at his bluntness. they were never this forward about stuff with their parents, especially not with stuff about each other. Although, these were their great uncles who they had survived an apocalypse with.

"I see," muttered Ford. "Maybe a curse? Did you try using the bath salts and scented candles, that usually does the trick for things like this." Dipper looked at her and shook his head.

"I don't think it's a curse," said Dipper. Mabel also shook her head.

"Huh," said Ford, looking at her thoughtfully. "Well, I still have my lab downstairs, we could always run some tests."

"Actually, I think we just need to figure this out," said Dipper, glancing at her again. She nodded. Really, she just needed to figure all this out. "Oh! Wait, I do have something I want to show you!" exclaimed Dipper excitedly. "Wait here, I'll be right back!"

He leapt up from beside her and scrambled up the stairs to their room. There was a long awkward silence where no one seemed quite sure what to say while Dipper wasn't there. Mabel patted the tops of her knees in an off beat rhythm and blew out her cheeks. Then she caught Ford's gaze fixed on her, she stopped, thinking she might be annoying him or something.

"Only his name, huh?" he asked. She nodded. Ford took a deep breath through his nose.

"What?" asked Stan, "Do you know something about this?" Ford didn't answer immediately, his gaze still on her, like he was looking through her.

"I might," said Ford. "But I'd need to know more before I jump to any conclusions. I'll have to consult - " The sound of hurried footsteps down the stairs brought them all back into silence. Dipper reappeared, slightly out of breath. He looked around the room like he had missed something. He held up the journal that Mabel had brought.

"Check out what Mabel made for me," said Dipper, holding up the book and striding towards Ford. Ford's eyes widened slightly and a grin spread across his face as he saw it.

"Your own journal!" cried Ford in excitement. He touched the cover with his six fingered hand. "A pine tree huh?" He looked over at Mabel who nodded shyly, feeling oddly exposed. "Do you mind if I take a look inside?"

"Of course! I mean, go ahead!" cried Dipper in excitement. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about it!" Ford flipped open the journal, his eyes widening again. He wasn't reading the pages, just casually flipping through them. "I've been working on it for a couple years now but I didn't think it was ready for you to see yet. And I thought I left it at home but Mabel remembered to bring it for me. And I was wondering if you maybe wanted to help me add some entries into it or something," Dipper said all this very fast in his very excited voice. Ford continued to listen as he turned page after page. "What do you think?"

Ford's eyes found Mabel again, then he looked back at the journal and closed it, looking at the cover again.

"I think you have a pretty great sister who made you a pretty great book," said Ford, handing the journal back to Dipper. "I would be happy to help you with some of your notes if you like. Maybe even include a few of my own."

"Really! That would be great!" cried Dipper in excitement. "Could we maybe work on it tonight?" Mabel frowned slightly. She and Dipper were supposed to start working on what was wrong with her voice tonight.

"No, not tonight," said Ford, and Dipper looked a little disappointed. "We should get to bed early, we have a long day of goblin hunting ahead of us tomorrow." Dipper's eyes lit up.

"Wait, goblins, really? I thought there weren't any in Gravity Falls," said Dipper excitedly.

"I've been tracking a tribe of them, and I think they just moved in outside of town," said Ford with a nod. "We need to make sure they aren't going to cause any trouble. Now you two get off to bed and we will talk more about it in the morning."

"Alright, goodnight Great Uncle Ford!" called Dipper already scurrying off, in a hurry to get to bed and wake up early. Mabel started to get up but Ford gave her a look to stay put. Stan seemed to noticed this too, he shrugged and headed off towards his room, leaving them alone. It took Ford a long moment before he spoke.

"They didn't notice it, but I did," said Ford softly. "The way you were looking at people tonight, how you were surprised by the stories about yourself. And the journal, a pine tree..." Ford was still sitting across from her. She felt like she was in the principal's office or something. He was tapping his finger against his knee as he spoke. "It's more than just your voice that isn't working, you don't remember things from this past year, am I right?" Very briefly she thought about denying it. Instead, she nodded.

"This might be more serious than I thought. Look, I think you should get some rest," he lifted his hand to look at the watch on his wrist. "It'll be midnight in a minute or so. We can talk more about this in the morning." He stood up and Mabel felt like she was being dismissed. Instead of hurrying up to her room though, she ran forward and hugged Ford around his middle. It was so strange to be tall enough to do that.

"It's alright Mabel," he said stroking the back of her head, "everything will be-"


	3. Chapter 3 - The Falls

Sweater Town

Chapter 3 – The Falls

By Starwin

* * *

Mabel's eyes fluttered open into the morning sunlight. She squinted, lifting a hand to shield her face. _BLARGH. Stupid sun_. She rolled over to face her stuffed animals that lined the edge of her bed. Except, they weren't there. She felt a strange twinge of confusion. Groggily, she pushed herself up to look around the room

This wasn't her room. This was Dipper's room. She had fallen asleep in his bed, making a little nest out of the blankets. Her eyes swept across the mess her brother always failed to clean up. He was nowhere to be found.

The painfully bright red numbers of his digital clock told her it was 1 PM. She didn't remember exactly when she had drifted off but that seemed fairly late in the day. What was today anyhow? All notion of time seemed to be lost on her now that she had stopped going to school. Or, really doing anything outside of hiding away.

She looked down at herself to find she was still wearing her shooting star sweater. Poking out below the hem was her purple nightgown. She had been having the strangest dream of being back in Gravity Falls. Her brother had been there too and she had given him back his journal. The journal!

Her hands felt around the mattress for the absent book. She must have let it go when she drifted off to sleep. However, the journal was nowhere to be found. She hopped off the bed and searched the floor. After a few minutes of searching through discarded clothing, she hadn't seen even a trace of the journal. It was like it had vanished… or… like she had left it in her dream.

She bit her lip. No. It wasn't a dream. It wasn't a fantasy. Sweater town was real! She ran a hand down her sweater. It was real... right? She honestly couldn't say.

She gave one last longing glance at the bed, as though hoping the journal might suddenly pop into existence if she stared hard enough. But the bed remained empty.

Her thoughts tumbled back to the dream, trying to recall everything that had happen. All that was left in her memories were the last moments of talking with Great Uncle Ford about… something. She couldn't exactly recall what. She had woken up here, right where she gone into sweater town... Or, more likely, right where she had fallen asleep.

She pulled off her sweater so that she was once more just in her nightshirt. She looked the garment over and was surprised - and a little unhappy - to find that some of the hem had started to fray. There was also a small rip in one of the sleeves. Well, that wouldn't do at all.

She made her way back across her brother's room, more careful to avoid his dirty laundry scattered over the floor this time. She went out into the hallway that separated them. The house seemed to be quiet and she wondered where their parents were. At the moment she wasn't curious enough to go looking for them.

Her tummy protested that she was heading back to her room rather than downstairs to get it food. There was another feeling of urgency in her too, one she couldn't as easily ignore. She halted at her door. In one hand was her torn sweater while her other hand pressed just below her stomach, trying to coax her body to wait. However, it didn't seem like this was something that would wait.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, she tossed the sweater at her bed (missing). She hurried down the hallway to the bathroom she and Dipper shared - her thoughts derailed as she pulled the door open. The bathroom they had shared.

She closed the door and seated herself before she started crying into her hands. Up until that thought everything had been fine. It had just been another day, she had been able not to think about _it_ for a full ten minutes or so.

Then her stupid brain reminded her that she didn't share the bathroom down the hall with her brother anymore, it was just _her_ bathroom now. It wasn't their parents she hadn't seen yet, they were just _her_ parents. And it wasn't Dipper's bed she had fallen asleep in last night, it was just an empty bed.

She pulled handfuls of toilet paper off the roll beside her (the tissue box was out of reach) and pressed the absorbent paper against her sobbing eyes and runny nose. It took her almost an hour, and the rest of the roll, before she finally cried as much of it out as she could. She didn't feel better when her tears ran dry, she just felt… alone.

Finished, both with crying and other needs, she got up and used the sink. Her bright red eyes glared back at her in the mirror. She looked terrible. It was like her reflection was judging her, blaming her.

She looked determinedly away from the face in the mirror, instead focusing on her open palms under the running water. She just stared into the flow, not really seeing anything. Time seemed to slip from her as the faucet ran for far longer than she needed. The hot water rushed between her fingers as if washing away some unseen blood that could never be removed.

A knock at the door behind her nearly startled Mabel out of her skin. For one terrible moment, she had thought it would be Dipper. He had come to ask if she could hurry up, because he really needed to use the bathroom. It wasn't her brother, of course.

"Sweetie, are you alright in there?" came her mother's voice. "The sink's been running for a while… and… I just want to make sure everything is… that you're okay."

"Dipper," said Mabel automatically then closed her mouth, putting a hand over it.

"I… I know sweetheart… I-" She could hear her mother's voice breaking. Mabel shut off the water and hurried to the door, pulling it open. Her mom was standing outside with a hand over her mouth, trying to stifle her sobs. Mabel hugged her around the waist and pressed her head into her mommy's tummy. "I'm sorry," her mother whispered, her voice rough and uneven.

She stroked Mabel's hair, trying to impart comfort. Her mother gave a great sniff that seemed to stifle her tears at last. She patted her daughter, seeming to indicate that she could let her go. Mabel gave one last squeeze then released her mom.

"Lunch is waiting downstairs," said her mother at last. Her voice was somehow far more calm than anything Mabel could ever possibly have managed. "Come down when you're ready, you need to eat something." Mabel nodded, more to show that she understood than agreeing that she would eat. Her mother smiled at her one last time before heading downstairs.

Mabel stood at the bathroom door a while longer. Finally, she decided that lunch couldn't hurt. Her tummy rumbled its loud agreement. Fine, food it was.

She trudged downstairs and was instantly accosted by her pet pig. Waddles scurried across the hardwood floor and crashed into her legs. He licked at her toes and she couldn't help but let out a giggle. She lifted him up and hugged him tight. He was still growing and getting a little heavier every day. When she had got him he had been only fifteen pounds. Now he was closer to thirty and she was starting to have a hard time carrying him around. Maybe she needed to put him on a diet, how heavy did pigs get anyhow?

She stopped at the kitchen door, which had a little gate. With a frown, she remembered that pigs were not aloud in the kitchen. She set Waddles down and rubbed his side, which caused him to roll over onto his back. She furiously rubbed his tummy. He squealed with delight and Mabel giggled. It felt good to giggle.

The sound died in her throat. Giggling wasn't right. Not now. Not ever again...

She frowned and stopped her pig tickling. His belly rub apparently completed, Waddles rolled back to his little hooves and did what he did best, waddled off. She knelt there for a moment longer, watching her pet pig make his way across the floor to the pillow she had made for him. Red velvet, with a gold cord around the sides. There were hand stitched letters on the front that said Waddles, with each letter being a different color.

She got back to her feet and pulled open the kitchen gate before slipping inside. Her mother was at the counter motionless like a statue. She was standing there with her hands on the tile and staring out the window at nothing. Mabel didn't see her father.

The table was already set with plates and food. Mabel's usual spot was waiting for her. She had a sandwich, turkey, her favorite. Since getting Waddles she had insisted on no pig products. Turkeys were creepy jerks though, so she didn't mind. There were also apple slices and a glass of water. She would have prefered soda but whatever.

She sat and went hungrily for her sandwich but stopped. Her place wasn't the only one that had been set. Across the table from her, in the spot where Dipper usually sat, was another plate with apple slices. It had a tuna sandwich, Dipper's favorite. Mabel felt her heart catch in her throat as she looked at it, her appetite suddenly gone. Her stomach groaned angrily and she punched her gut, hissing at it.

The sound seemed to rouse her mother, who looked at her and blinked. She must have finally noticed Mabel was there. Running her hands down the bottom of her blouse to get rid of any wrinkles, her mother smiled at her.

"I know it's nothing fancy, just sandwiches," said her mom. "I made your favorites, turkey for you and tuna for-" Her eyes moved to the spot where she had put the extra sandwich. Her hand came up to her mouth and she turned away.

For the second time that morning, Mabel went to her mother and hugged her. This time, her mother didn't return the hug at all. She just broke down into sobs at the counter. Mabel continued to hug her, thinking that she too might succumb to tears at any moment. However, her morning sob on the toilet seemed to have cried her out and she managed to keep it together.

After a long while, her mom seemed to recover enough to speak again. She patted Mabel, once more indicating that she was fine. Mabel went back to her spot while her mother collected the other sandwich that had been meant for Dipper.

Mabel looked at her food and her insides screamed at her to eat some of it, all of it! Right now! It wanted that food! _GIVE ME FOOD!_ Tentatively, she picked up a slice of apple and bit into it. It was like flavor town in her mouth, sweet, juicy and delicious.

"Your father can eat it when he gets back from the funeral home," said her mother as she put the food into the fridge. Mabel nearly choked on her apple slice, only just managing to spit it out instead.

"DIPPER!" she shouted without thinking. She had intended to scream 'what!' but, well, her words weren't working so hot at the moment. Her mother glared at her with a look that seemed to say, 'how dare you,' for only an instant until her expression softened.

"We have to make arrangements," explained her mother. She looked seriously at Mabel. "I know this has been..." she seemed to lack the right words " - awful," she said at last. "Your father and I have been talking and we think it might be best if you talked to someone about what you're going through."

Mabel frowned deeply at this. Was her mom joking? Talk to someone? What was she going to say? Just scream Dipper's name over and over at them incoherently? It occurred to her that it was possible her parents didn't yet realize she was stuck on a single word. She also realized that her mother was staring at her expecting an answer. Mabel shrugged and took another bite of her apple slice.

"I'll take that as a maybe," said her mom. "I've already set up an appointment for tomorrow with a grief counselor."

Mabel nearly choked a second time. She already - _WHAT!?_ Her mom hadn't even asked her, well, okay, she had, but only after making the appointment. This was just like her mom! Doing whatever she wanted without asking Mabel what _she_ wanted!

Just like they had been shipped off to Oregon this past summer. That brought the tears back, if only just a little. She wiped at her eyes and looked determinedly away from her mom.

"It'll be good for you sweetheart," continued her mom, obviously misinterpreting her reaction. "We also think you should stay home from school for at least a week." A week? How about forever! Mabel angrily bit into the next slice of apple, having finished the first. "We can talk about it more later, you just finish up."

Mabel did finish up, plowing through her lunch as though she hadn't eaten in weeks. Not because she was hungry (even though she was, when had been the last time she had eaten?) but because she wanted to leave before her mom could say anything else to her. She didn't even put her plate in the sink. Instead she brought the last few bites of her sandwich with her.

Waddles rushed up to her but she brushed past him, not in the mood for any pig antics. And certainly not wanting to stay downstairs any more than she had to. She hurried back up to her room, slamming the door more forcefully than she meant. She had intended to throw herself onto her bed, curl up in a ball and never come out again. Instead, she stopped at the discarded sweater lying on the floor.

Gently, she lifted it and gave it the once over. It definitely looked a lot worse for wear than she remembered. She frowned at the rip in the sleeve. She didn't know where that had come from either.

Tears in her clothing were pretty common. She was an active girl that often did things before thinking them through. Okay, if she was being honest, she _always_ did things before thinking them through. That usually resulted in damaged clothing. Being the expert craftsgirl that she was, she had learned long ago how to mend her own clothes. Heck, she knitted her own sweaters, rips were like, little knitting jobs!

She pulled out her sewing repair kit from the second drawer on her nightstand (the first drawer was filled with emergency stickers and panic candy). She found a close enough matching pink thread to get the job done, poked it through the needle and set to work on the mend.

It only took a minute or so to complete. She held the sweater up to admire her handywork and frowned. The tear she had just mended was still there. She poked a finger through confirming there was still indeed a hole. Well, that - that was odd.

She threaded up again, checking the garment once over to make sure there absolutely were no other rips - she confirmed there was just the one - and set to work sewing it closed again. She counted each stitch, double checked they were tight and finally tied off the end. She confirmed the hole was gone, that all the stitches were in place. They were. She put the needle in it's place and when she turned her attention back to the sweater found the same hole glaring back at her.

 _WHAT THE SWEET CHEESE AND CHOCOLATE SAUCE WAS GOING ON?!_

Mabel tried again. And again. And again. Each time the rip closed and each time she looked away, it reappeared. It was like… it was like her sweater couldn't be mended... Like it couldn't be fixed… Like… her connection to her brother was coming apart.

Without thinking, like always, she dove into her sweater. She had to get back. She had to see Dipper and make sure everything was okay! She tucked in her legs and arms and let the horrible memory of her loss wash over her as sweater town pulled her down.

"-alright," said Dipper, wiping his brow. He was bent over his bed, a backpack open in front of him. "You all set?" He looked over at Mabel, who just looked blankly back at him for a moment, completely lost as to what was going on.

The transition from reality to dream had come so abruptly. She had crawled into her sweater and BAM, the next moment she was standing back in the attic in Gravity Falls! It was like she had never left, although, she felt oddly different, funny allover like she couldn't explain.

She looked up and confirmed that the ceiling above her wasn't a ceiling, it was a sweater. Although, it was at an odd angle this time. She could see the pillows on her bed through the neck hole. It was like the world was laying on its side or something. She couldn't see the-hole-that-would-not-be-sewn in the sleeve.

"Hello, earth to Mabel? Are you there?" asked her brother. She let out a squeak of surprise and stumbled backwards into her bed. Her balance felt all off and she started to topple over but Dipper managed to catch her just in time. "Whoa, careful there. Are you alright?" She nodded.

It was then that she noticed her brother had, not just peach fuzz on his chin but a full blown goatee! How had she not noticed that before? He pulled her back up to her feet and she reached out and rubbed the bottom of his face. She giggled at the strange fuzzy sensation.

"Ah, Mabel. Stop that, I told you I don't like it when you rub my beard!" cried Dipper letting her go and taking a few step away so that he was out of reach. She stuck her tongue out at him. "Are you really going to wear that sweater on our adventure today? I mean, it's pretty hot outside." Oh! An adventure! She had missed doing those with her brother so much! She wondered where they were off to. Hopefully nothing to do with gnomes. Nah, Dipper knew better than that. Hadn't Ford said they were off to meet goblins today or something?

Mabel glanced down to check out what attire she had picked out for said adventure. Of course she was going to wear a sweater she always – Mabel felt her eyes nearly pop out of her head.

 _HOT FUDGE SUNDAE WITH CHERRIES AND SPRINKLES AND GLITTER! SPARKLY, SPARKLY GLITTER!_

Mabel nearly fell backwards a second time as her legs whacked into the bed behind her. She had tried, and failed, to take a step away from herself to get a better look. It wasn't her sweater that had caused the alarm, it was the things under the sweater, the things pushing the sweater outwards. It was her own body that had caused her to panic.

Panic flooding through her brain. She turned and ran for the bathroom, taking one step, completely losing her balance and tumbling into the floor. Dipper spun around from his backpack.

"Mabel!" he cried hurrying over to help her. "Are you okay?" She nodded again as Dipper helped her back to her feet. She smiled at him then resumed her panicked rush out of the room, nearly falling a second time. All her balance was off. She managed to stumble at last into the little bathroom they shared. The much smaller than she remembered bathroom. She closed and locked the door behind her, before turning to the mirror and seeing herself.

She was different. Wayyyyyyyy different than the last time. She wasn't just older, she wasn't just taller, she was bigger, much bigger. She held up her hands to the two lumps on the front of her chest, hidden by the sweater but no less noticeable. She had finally gotten breasts, real, breasts.

She grabbed them before immediately letting go. That had felt super weird. Not stopping to consider what she was doing Mabel pulled off her sweater. Underneath was a simple white undershirt, she tugged that off too. Wrapped tightly around her chest was a plain pink bra. Yep, she definitely had breasts. She smiled into the mirror before frowning. Still those stupid braces too!

She fiddled with the bottom of the bra. She didn't like the way it felt. Now that she was aware of it, she could feel it pinching at her. And the straps felt tight and uncomfortable. She wanted to take it off. Not just because she didn't like how it felt but because she wanted to see. She wanted to see herself, to know how she looked without these clothes.

At the same time, she felt oddly ashamed, like she never had before. Nudity had never been a big deal for her. It made her brother uncomfortable so she had always tried to be slightly more modest around him. However, they had shared a room for ten years, there was very little they hadn't seen of each other. And they were still sharing a room every summer in the Mystery Shack it seemed. She was definitely older. If the trend kept up, this would be her third visit to sweater town, and if each one was a year... she would be, fifteen.

The reason she was so hesitant to remove that last bit of clothing had nothing to do with her, or her brother, he wasn't in here anyhow. It had to do with the fact that, even though it felt like it, and she could move it around, this wasn't really her body.. was it? She was borrowing the Mabel of this world's body. Right? Assuming anything in this world existed when she wasn't here and this wasn't just a dream or a fantasy or something. Really, she wasn't wholly convinced that all of this wasn't just happening in her head.

She chewed her lip, her eyes slipped off the mirror and onto her left hand. There was a faint scar across it from a hot glue gun accident when she had been seven. This was her body. This was her world. These were her breasts!

Mabel lifted up the bra and let out a sigh of relief, that felt a lot more comfortable. But she frowned slightly at what she saw, a little let down. She stripped off the garment completely, glad to be free of it, and dropped it on the floor. She wasn't exactly sure what she had been expecting to find. It was a lot like her old chest, just bumpier.

She poked one of her breasts with a finger and it squished just like skin. She felt a shudder run down her spine. It might feel like skin to her finger but the sensation she felt wasn't anything like regular skin. She was very sensitive there. It didn't hurt, not exactly, but it felt weird for sure. She poked herself again, still tender but less weird the second time. She grabbed both of them in her hands and smooched them together. Yep, that was her reflected in the mirror playing with her boobs.

"Mabel?" came a knock at the door. She only just managed to bite back her scream of terror. "Is everything alright in there?"

Hurriedly, she pulled her undershirt and sweater back on and went for the door. At the last second she noticed that she had neglected the bra. With a well placed kick, she sent it skidding across the floor and under the raised bathtub.

She opened the door, only a little red in the face. Dipper had his hand raised as if to knock again. His eyes start on her face but flick momentarily downwards before coming up to her eyes again.

"Is... everything alright?" She gave a double thumbs up. "You're acting really weird today, you know that? I mean, more weird than normal. And why is your face all red?" She stuck her tongue out at him and blew a raspberry, inadvertently hitting him with some spittle. "Eww, Mabel, gross! Are you all packed and ready to go?" asked Dipper, wiping his face with a sleeve. She nodded. "Well, come on, get your bag and I'll meet you downstairs."

He turned and walked over to the edge of the staircase down. He paused at the banister and looked back at her standing in the bathroom door, then he shook his head and descended the stairs. She stood there for a moment longer. She took a deep breath and made her way back to their room. She still felt slightly off balance as she walked. Getting used to these things hanging off her front was going to take, well, some getting used to.

She found her backpack sitting on her bed and nearly squealed with delight. It was a pig backpack, pig-pack. A piggyback-backpack! She lifted it up hugged it and did a little spin with it. She pulled its straps over her shoulders and headed downstairs. Dipper was in the kitchen talking to someone, a women. Mabel came in slowly, a smile spreading across her face as Melody came into view.

"Good morning, Mabel!" said Melody brightly. Mabel rushed across the room and hugged her tightly. "Oh, thank you for the hug sweetie." she said, returning the embrace with one arm. Mabel pulled back and smiled shyly at her. "I was just telling the Dip-ster - "

"Don't call me that," interjected Dipper flatly.

" - that I made you two lunch for your big adventure today." She held out two brown paper bags for them.

"Thanks, Melody," said Dipper taking his bag, which Mabel noticed had a pine tree sketched into it in blue marker, instead of his name.

Mabel went to take the second bag that Melody was holding out to her but stopped as she noticed two things. First, like Dipper's bag, hers had a yellow star instead of her name. Secondly, the hand holding the bag had a gold and silver diamond engagement ring on it. Mabel let out another sequel of delight as she saw it, smooching her cheeks together in excitement. Melody continued to hold the bag out, looking slightly confused.

"Thanks, Melody," Dipper said again, taking Mabel's bag before walking around to stick it into her piggyback-backpack. "Mabel is, being a little strange today, I think she's just really excited for our adventure. It's the first one of the summer for us. Right Mabes?"

It took her a second but she realized her brother was giving her an out. Mabel nodded excitedly, a big smile on her face. Melody smiled back.

"Well, have fun you too, and don't be back too late," said Melody. "You're uncles will be by for dinner around six thirty, so try and be back before then." Mabel heard Dipper's watch beep as he set an alarm on it.

"Got it," he said, then called out, "Bye Soos! Bye Abuleta!"

From someplace within the Mystery Shack the faint echo of "Have fun dudes!" echoed back to them. Dipper and Mabel turned to go but Melody put a hand on Mabel's shoulder.

"I wanna have a quick word with your sister before you two head out, okay?" said Melody. Dipper shrugged.

"Sure, I'll be outside when you're ready Mabel. Don't take too long, we have a hike ahead of us," said Dipper, heading out the door. Melody turned to Mabel a slightly concerned expression on her face. Mabel raised an eyebrow at her, wondering what was up. She also wondered how she was going to have any kind of conversation.

"Uh, Mabel," said Melody, sounding slightly uncomfortable. "Look, I know it's not really my place but I feel like I should be a somewhat responsible adult. Sometimes I feel like the only responsible adult here. But, sweetie, you really should be wearing a bra." Mabel felt her face instantly go red. Her bra, she hadn't put it back on in all the excitement and Melody had noticed.

"I know this whole teenage thing is awkward and stuff," continued Melody, "and I know they can be uncomfortable and you don't really like them but it's kind of expected. We had a talk about it last year, and, well, it wasn't as big of a deal, you weren't as big, but it's pretty noticeable." Mabel put her arms self consciously over her chest. She had never felt this uncomfortable about her own body before.

Melody seemed to be waiting for her to say something, anything. But as she couldn't really say anything, Mabel just shrugged and nodded. Melody didn't seem to know what to make of it. So Mabel gave her a thumbs up.

"I guess you're just being you," said Melody after a long moment of confusion and finally a shrug. Mabel nodded, waved and then walked as quickly as she could without running, out the front door.

Dipper was sitting on the steps. He was holding the journal she had brought with her last time open in his lap. She almost squealed in delight but caught a glimpse of the page he was looking at. It had her name at the top. She couldn't read any of the text beyond her name from where she was standing but there was a picture of her glued to the page. Dipper snapped the book shut at her approach.

"Oh, you're ready to go? What did Melody want to talk to you about?" asked Dipper, Mabel shrugged, stuck out her tongue and blew a soft raspberry as if to say whatever. "Oooookay," said Dipper, shaking his head. She noticed his eyes momentarily flick down once more. She crossed her arms over her chest. Stupid body! Stupid breasts! Making her feel all uncomfortable and stuff!

"Well, let's get started!" said Dipper as he stuffed the journal into his own pack, before slinging it over his shoulders. He took the lead, waving for her to follow.

She felt her face redden slightly. Was her brother looking at her boobs? He was a boy, maybe he just couldn't help it. After all, Dipper had started having other things he couldn't control happen to him. Things she had teased him mercilessly about whenever she noticed him walking funny or not wanting to stand up. Maybe this was some kind of twisted revenge?

She frowned, why had she thought about her Dipper. He was right here, walking away from her right now! Oh, fudge noodles! She jogged to catch up and instantly wished she hadn't. The two mounds of flesh under her clothing jumped and wiggled and bounced in a way that was very, very, unpleasant for her. She covered her chest once more running the last few steps but brought her arms down as Dipper turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow. She just smiled back at him as though everything was perfectly fine.

So, okay, running was out of the question today. Darn it, why hadn't she just gone back upstairs and gotten a bra! This whole day was going to be weird and awkward! Not just the whole her brother staring at her thing but also it was hard to move around. Stupid body! She didn't need this right now!

"Mabel," came Dipper's voice pulling her out of her self conscious thoughts. "You've been oddly quiet." Oh chicken nuggets, he had finally noticed. "Usually, at this point you would be singing, or humming, or just talking my ear off. But, I don't think you've said a word since I asked if you were bringing that ridiculous pig backpack thing, or, what did you call it, piggyback-backpack?" She couldn't help but smile at that. He, however, frowned. Then he looked sad. "You... you aren't mad at me for spending our first few days here hanging out with Great Uncle Ford, are you?" She shook her head. She didn't even remember him doing that.

"Dipper…" she said, trying to sound apologetic. Instantly he spun around on the trail, stopping in his tracks, his eyes wide.

"It happened again! Didn't it!" exclaimed Dipper. She froze, her eyes also wide. "You can't say anything except my name, can you?" She bit her lip, but nodded. Much to her surprise, Dipper let out a triumphant cry. "I knew it! I told you! Ha! Every year this happens! And you keep telling me it isn't! But this time! This year! I'll have proof!" cried Dipper excitedly. He yanked his backpack around and fished out a video camera. After a moment or two of fiddling he switched it on and pointed it at her, she reflexively crossed her arms over her chest.

"Alright, June 15th, 2015," said Dipper, focusing the camera on her. "Anomaly Number 15-87, continuation of my research from last year on the subject. Ever since our return to Gravity Fall's my sister seems to suffer one day of losing the ability to speak, or at least to say any word other than my nickname, go on Mabel, say it," he prodded. She shut her mouth tight. This felt super uncomfortable. "Mabel, come on, this is for you! For tomorrow. I've told you every year so far but you don't believe me! If everything is fine than you should be able to say 'Mabel is great! And Goober is stupid!'" Her jaw dropped in disbelief, her brother was not just encouraging her but actually giving her permission to call him Goober! She couldn't pass this up!

"Dipper! Dipper, dip-" Mabel began, then frowned. Darn it! He tricked her!

"HA! There! See," cried Dipper in excitement. She scowled and started trudging towards him. "You can't say anything but – hey, what are you doing! Mabel, let go!" She yanked the camera out of his hands and switched it off. She stuffed it into her backpack. He tried to get it back from her, but she shot him an icy glare and stuck her tongue out. "Come on, I need that to document..." Dipper trailed off, looking pensive. She waited for him to continue but instead he started muttering under his breath. After a minute of this, she rolled her eyes and poked him in the side, then the arm, then the cheek. "Hey, stop!" Dipper complained shooing her hand away. She stared at him.

"Right, right, look," said Dipper rubbing the back of his neck. "Maybe we shouldn't go on an adventure today." She let her eyes widen in a 'Whaaaaat?' sort of expression. "I mean, what if you get into trouble or something, you can only say my name, how will you call out for help?" Without missing a beat, she sucked in a deep breath before bellowing:

" **DIPPER**!" at the top of her lungs, right next to his head. Dipper was just a bit too slow to cover his ears.

"Okay, okay! Ouch, point taken," said Dipper, rubbing at his ear with a finger. "But, I mean do you even want to go... can I even trust you to go? I don't even know if you're really Mabel..." She grabbed both his shoulders and turned her brother to face her looking deep into his eyes. "Are you Mabel?" She nodded seriously. "Do you want to go?" She nodded again then booped him on the nose and started laughing. He rubbed his nose.

"Alright," he said. "If nothing else, I can videotape our adventure… Can I have my camera back?" He asked. She put a finger to her mouth in fake thought. Finally nodded and pulled his camera out of her pack. She started to hand it to him but pulled it away before he could take it and stared at him.

"What?" he asked. She pointed to the camera, then at herself and shook her head. Dipper's eyes searched her, she repeated the gesture. "You... don't want me to film you?" She nodded. "But I need it for proof for... you!" She let out a deep sigh. Reluctantly, she handed the camera back to him. "I'll, keep it more focused on our adventure I guess. But no promises you won't end up in some shots." She gave a thumbs up. A few shots were okay, she just didn't want to be turned into one of his weird studies or something... Although, that entry in the journal probably meant she already was.

At last they continued their hike onwards. She didn't actually know where they were going, Dipper had failed to mention it. Or, he had and she hadn't been paying attention. The day was getting hotter and she was starting to regret wearing a sweater. She was starting to sweat and not in a good way. She was debating on whether or not she wanted to remove it (with only an undershirt beneath), when Dipper finally announced that they were here.

She looked up in wonder as a glittering rainbow arched across the sky - well, the sweater sky - stretching out of the mists from the crashing water. Gravity Falls, the enormous waterfall from which the town took its name. She had been here before. She and Candy and Grenda, had come up to play in the river a couple times. She felt another pang at her heart. Her friends. She had seen them last night, or last year, or whatever the heck it had been. What had happened in the time since, what had she missed...

"Come on, this way. I think the entrance is over here," said Dipper, leading them up along the bank of the river. She followed.

Around the base of the falls was a huge circular pool that the water had carved out over time. Near the falls the pool was very deep but quickly shallowed out the further away you got. Mabel had been swimming in it before. When you were in the pool you could feel the vibration of the water falling nearby. She had never gotten very close to the actual waterfall though. It was a massive torrent of raw power and even from twenty yards away, you could feel the intense pull trying to suck you under.

Dipper took them right up to the cliff side, or at least as close as they could get. Jagged rocks and sheer stone prevented them from getting right up to the waterfall itself. Her brother pulled out his journal and flipped through some of the pages, he stopped on a page titled, The Deep Caves. Mabel read along as he read out loud.

"Okay, according to those goblins we met last year, there should be a huge, mostly unexplored cave hidden behind the falls," said Dipper paraphrasing the much longer entry. It had pictures and diagrams of the falls. Mabel noticed there was no actual entrance drawn in any of the pictures. "But how do we get in, could it be hidden? Or, maybe it's on the other side?" Dipper tried to look across water, but they could see very little from where they were standing.

"Alright, let's backtrack around and try the other side," said Dipper.

They hiked back along the pool's edge and to the river that flowed out. It wasn't a stream but a full blown river. While the pool around the falls was shallow for the most part, there was still a fast moving current that divided it in half. Mabel remembered swimming across it, starting up near the falls and ending at the far end of the pool by the time she reached the other side.

"How do we get across though?" asked Dipper. That was easy, they swam. She gave her brother's arm a tug, pulling him towards the pool. "What?" asked Dipper, trying to reason out what she wanted. When he didn't seem to get it, she bent her body in half and pretended to swim. "Wait, what? You want to swim across?" She nodded.

"Okay, maybe," said Dipper looking at the water around the falls. "The current does seem a lot less strong in the pool. But what about our stuff? My camera won't survive getting wet, neither will my journal."

She actually had an answer for that too, she had seen it when stuffing the camera into her bag. She held up a hand, pulled off her piggyback-backpack and fished around inside. There was the paper bag with the food Melody had made, and her trusty grappling hook, some crayons, a coloring book, gummy worms, a bunch of other stuff, annnnd... She yanked out a bundle of clear plastic clicklock bags. Dipper's eyes brightened.

"The sample bags!" he cried, hitting himself in the head. "Of course, good thinking Mabel!" she smiled at him. The two of them began bundling up the things that couldn't get wet, which was pretty much everything. The camera fit just fine into it's own plastic bag but Dipper's journal didn't. In the end they solved the problem by using two bags and duct taping them together. Mabel also had duct tape with her, in three different colors, blue, pink and white with little duck-tective heads on it.

Their belongings safely encased in plastic, they looked towards the crossing. They were going to have to swim. Which meant they were going to get wet.

Dipper began to undress first, stuffing his shirt into one of the few remaining bags. Mabel however just stood there, watching him, her eyes wide. Dipper paused as he was taking off his shoes.

"Uh, Mabel, earth to Mabel?" said Dipper, snapping her out of the momentary freeze. "You aren't going in like that are you?" His face reddened and he looked down at his half naked body. "Okay, maybe this was stupid. We should just call it quits here and..." She yanked off her sweater with a determined look on her face. They were not going to give up here just because she was feeling shy! She was Mabel Pines damn it! She didn't feel embarrassed about her body. Usually.

It was Dipper's turn to stare at her as she stripped down to her white undershirt and rainbow colored panties. She felt so exposed standing before him like this, She crossed her arms over her chest again, wishing he would stop looking at her. At last she coughed when he hadn't moved for a bit.

"Right, right," muttered Dipper, continuing to tug off his socks and stuff them into the bag that had his shirt.

At last, all their bags sealed, and the twins standing in nothing but their undergarments, they approached the edge of the pool. Mabel waded in first, eager to be concealed under the surface of the water. It was icy cold in comparison to the warm day. It stung sharply at first but felt better as she waded deeper in. Although, the pool was still very shallow, only coming up to her waist. She could hear Dipper splashing in behind her.

"Oh man that's cold," complained Dipper. The two of them made their way out into the pool, getting as close to the falls as they dared. Dipper looked across the fast moving stream that divided the pool. "Alright, I guess this is as good a place as any to cross. I'll go first."

Dipper looked at her for confirmation. She nodded. Her brother took a deep breath then dove forward with a splash. His arms lashed out in front of him as hard as he could. He was moving across but the current was pushing him down stream as he went. However, he made it to the other side well before the outlet. He stood up on the other shallow end and gave her the thumbs up.

"Alright, your turn, Mabel!" he shouted.

She took a deep breath as well. She could do this, it was easy, she had done it before when she was in a younger body. She dove forward into icy water and began to swim. It was hard work but she felt invigorated by the chill, like the ice water was giving her strength or something. When she raised her head for air, Dipper was already grabbing her wrist and pulling her forward. She felt her feet touch the smooth rocks and sand of the other side of the pool.

"I got you Mabes," said Dipper, pulling her up and out. She beamed at him as she stood up, pushing her sopping wet hair back out of her face. Dipper smiled back at her. Then, almost unconsciously, his eyes flicked down, and widened, not coming back up. "Uh, Mabes... you aren't... you're not wearing..."

She looked down, both her breasts were clearly visible through her white undershirt. She crossed her arms over her chest, going very red in the face. Quickly, she dropped her whole body down into the water, so that she was only visible from the nose up. Dipper finally looked away, his face also red.

After a long moment of uncomfortable silence, Dipper coughed and said, "We should really get out." Mabel nodded in agreement. But she waited until Dipper had turned away and started towards the bank before she crawled after him, staying as submerged as possible.

When they reached the shore he told her to wait there - his gaze set determinedly away from her. He went off to search for a hidden entrance while she stayed there to dry off. She sat on the stony bank, plopping herself onto a warm rock. When Dipper was almost at the falls she turned her back to him, pulled off her undershirt, now just a shirt she guessed, and wrung it out several times. She felt the warm sun on her back and let out a contented sigh.

As she was pulling her shirt back on, she heard Dipper's footsteps approaching from behind. He let out a little cough to let her know he was there. She turned and smiled at him, as she tugged her shirt the rest of the way down.

"So, bad news," said Dipper with a frown. "There doesn't seem to be any way in on this side either." He knelt down next to his backpack, rifling through the plastic bags until he got to his journal. He peeled off the tape with much effort and pulled out his book. She watched as he flipped through the pages, looking for something he had missed. She also noticed that he was still in his tighty-whities. She felt herself blushing, and looked away, busying herself with the pebbles around her toes.

"Oh of course! How stupid could I get!" exclaimed Dipper. She looked back at him, instantly wishing she hadn't. He was on his feet and she could see the outline of the bulge between his legs. She looked away again. "Under the falls! I was thinking of a tunnel behind the falls, but he literally meant we had to swim under the falls! Mabel, we have to swim to the tunnel! Uh, what's... Ah! Sorry." Dipper turned himself away from her, finally seeming to noticed the view he had been flashing in her direction. She turned her head just a little so he could see her face and she smiled at him before starting to giggle. "Yes, ha. Okay, we're even now. Hand me some of that duct tape so I can reseal the journal."

She dug into her own backpack, found the plastic bag with the duct tape and handed it to her brother without looking in his direction. He started muttering to himself as he re-wrapped the journal. She caught bits and pieces of what he was saying. It was something about how embarrassing this all was but at least he wouldn't have to live it down afterwards. She almost wanted to grab the camera and get this on film for herself to see tomorrow. She smiled at that.

Journal rewrapped, the twins waded back into the chilly pool. It didn't feel quite as relaxing the second time, now that Mabel had started to warm up in the sun. Slowly, they made their way towards the falls. As they got closer she could feel the tug of the powerful column of water pulling at them. Dipper slowed his pace as well. The water was starting to get deeper the closer they got. And this was starting to feel like a bad idea.

"Okay!" shouted Dipper over the roar of water. She could barely hear him. "If we stay along the edge," he pointed to the side nearest them, " and hug the wall we should be okay!" This - this was a bad plan. Dipper started to move forward but Mabel grabbed his arm and shook her head. This felt way too dangerous, way too reckless. "We'll be fine, trust me." He took her hand. "As long as we're together we can beat anything!" She blushed but nodded.

Slowly, they approached the falls. The floor of the pool falling away beneath their feet until they were shoulder high under water. She thought the ground was going to leave them at any moment, but Dipper was right. As they skirted around the outside of the falls, they were just barely able to keep their heads above the surface. The undertow of the falls tugged at them the whole way but it wasn't actually strong enough to drag them in. Finally, after several intense minutes, they did it. They were seeing the eighth wonder of the world. The backside of water!

What they weren't seeing though, was a cave entrance. It was just more smooth stone behind the waterfall. Dipper was shouting something to her but she couldn't hear what over the deafening crash. Without warning - or, maybe she just hadn't been able to hear the warning - Dipper ducked under. He was still holding her hand, so she knew he hadn't gone anywhere but it was still very unnerving for her. A moment later he popped back up, he was positively beaming. He shouted again but all she could make out was her name. He mimicked the swimming motion she had made earlier, this time with one arm. He wanted them to swim? Was he crazy?! She shook her head but Dipper nodded.

He held up his hand with three fingers raised. He lowered the first one. No way! He was really going to do this. He lowered the second one. "DIPPER!" Mabel shouted as loudly as she could, she couldn't even hear her own voice. He lowered the last one. He leapt forward, pulling her along. They were tugged into the torrent of the waterfall. She felt herself pushed down with incredible force. She was disoriented as up and down lost their meaning. She felt a tug on her arm and began to swim with one arm, not daring to let go of her brother.

Even with her eyes open she couldn't see anything in the tumbling underwater current. They could have been swimming to the surface or drowning themselves. Her breath was just starting to burn in her lungs when she was yanked upwards out of the water, gasping and coughing. Dipper was laughing. She pulled free of his grip and punched him in the shoulder.

"Hey, ouch!" cried Dipper. "What was that for?" Tears were flowing out of her eyes. That had been the scariest thing she had ever done. She had thought they were going to drown. She punched him again. "Ouch, Mabel, stop, stop! Didn't you hear what I said?" She shook her head, tears still streaming down her face. "I said we were standing right on top of the entrance, we just had to swim under it. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

He caught her fist and turned the grab into a hug. She hugged him back, squeezing him hard against her. Stupid Dipper, stupid brother, stupid – breasts! She pushed him away before putting an arm across her chest. Stupid body! BLARGH! She hated feeling like this. "Sorry." Dipper apologized again. He was awkwardly quiet for a long moment, "Come on, let's get out of the water and dry off."

They found a ledge to the pool not far away. Light was coming in from the tunnel they had swam through but it didn't illuminate much. The rock also muffled the waterfall a lot, although it was still a low ever present rumble. It was cold in here and with no direct sunlight to dry her, Mabel started to shiver. Like before, she turned her back to Dipper, pulled off her shirt and wrung it several times until it was sort of dry. However, she didn't put it back on. It might be better for her to just wear the sweater directly. As she held her shirt out debating if she wanted to get back into the damp thing, Dipper spoke to her.

"You should do your underwear too," said Dipper, his voice sounding uncomfortable as he said it. She glanced at him over her shoulder to see if he had been peeking but he had his back to her. Also, he was completely naked. She turned away again, the sight of her brother's flat butt still in her eyes. She realized that they had the same butt. And she couldn't help but giggle at their butts.

It was than that she started to feel way more comfortable with herself. This was Dipper, and no matter how he looked at her, he loved her. He was her brother, her twin. They had been almost the same their whole lives, switch clothing and no one could really tell them apart. Until now, when they had started to change. What did it matter if he saw her naked? They were the same.

She pulled off her underwear unabashedly, wrung them several times and then slid them back on. They were still damp but they weren't dripping wet anymore. And they would dry under her other clothing in time. She decided to forgo her shirt until it was completely dry, slipping on her sweater over her bare chest instead. The wool chafed at her somewhat uncomfortably but it was better than freezing. She opened the rest of her clothing bags and quickly finished redressing. She was already starting to feel warmer with her adventure sweater back on. Her hair was of course sopping wet but there wasn't a lot she could do about that.

Dipper had also finished getting dressed. He had his shirt back on, it had been kept dry in the bag. Mabel wished she had just stuck her's in a bag now too. She had been so silly to keep it on! They were just boobs after all. Who cared if her brother saw them, he had a laptop, he had probably seen lots of boobs by this point. And it wasn't like he hadn't seen them before. Okay, maybe they had been way smaller the last time but whatever. He was her brother, he didn't look at her that way. Now, she had to deal with this thing rubbing against her or a cold shirt against her skin sapping out her heat. BLARGH. Getting older sucked!

"Man," said Dipper, looking at her sweater enviously, "I wish I had thought to bring a jacket or something, this cave is pretty cold." She smiled mischievously and fished out one of the many surprises that her other self had packed for her. It was an identical sweater to the one she was wearing, except, sized for Dipper. Her twin's eyes widened. "Whoa, wait, you packed one for me. I thought we hated identical clothing!" She shrugged. Sometimes, when it was just them it was cute. She didn't like it when they were made to be identical for someone else. She handed him the sweater and he pulled it on.

"This is pretty cool!" he said, checking the sweater out, opening some of its many pockets. "Did you pack extra pens and cheese snacks for me too?" he asked, pulling a handful of each from different pockets. She smiled, that was something she would do. "You really are the greatest sister a brother could ask for, you know that right?" She waved her hand saying it was nothing.

"Let's do lunch before we start exploring, I'm starving!" said Dipper.

He fished out the lunch that Melody had packed for him. Mabel did the same. The plastic had kept both their food and the brown paper bags from being soggy. She didn't open her lunch at first but rather stared at the yellow star on the bag. Why had Melody picked that? The star meant a lot to Mabel but… but did Melody know what it meant to her?

Mabel's eyes flicked over to Dipper. He was wearing his blue pine tree ball cap once more. The pine tree. Her eyes went down to her sweater. It was brown-ish and had pockets all over it but no star. How often did she wear her shooting star sweater here?

"Awesome! Tuna, my favorite!" exclaimed Dipper as he unpacked his sandwich. Something in Mabel's brain tried to get her attention. She ignored it and pulled open her own bag. Turkey… with apple slices. She… she could almost remember something like this. She shook her head, trying not to think about it and dug in.

They both ate quickly, eager to explore. When they were finished, they packaged back up their trash.

"Alright, let's see what we have here," said Dipper, pulling a headlamp out of his pack and strapping it to his forehead. With a click he turned it on and the cave lit up. Mabel pulled out her own head lamp. It was a kitty shaped light and when she clicked it on, it cycled through different colors. White first then, blue, purple, red, pink and back to white. She did this several times giggling as she did.

"Stop that!" complained Dipper. "You're making my eyes hurt." She stuck out her tongue at him but finally cycled to white and left it there.

"Wow, this place is amazing," muttered Dipper. He had his camera out. "Okay, entry 15-88, the Waterfall Cave." Dipper swept the camera around, his headlamp illuminating the entry area and the pool they had come out of, before he swept the light and lens over Mabel. "I'm here with my sister, Mabel. We just swam under a waterfall together into this cave. I wish I had brought the waterproof camera with me." She waved at the camera, but Dipper didn't linger on her. He seemed too excited to explore. "Stay with us as we go deeper into the unknown!" There was a beep as he switched it off. He turned back to her. "Hey, you don't mind playing camera-girl, do you?" She smiled, and gladly took the offered camera. "Great, this is going to be a really good one, I can feel it!" She tilted her head to the side in confusion. _A good one of what?_

"You do know why I have a camera, right?" asked Dipper. _Yeah, to document the strange stuff he hoped to find, right?_ She didn't have any way to convey that thought, so she just went back to the standard shrug.

"For the UsTube Channel," said Dipper. "Our UsTube Channel, the Mystery Pines Adventure Twins." Mabel raised an eyebrow. _Woah, wait, what-now? They had an UsTube Channel together? And they had named it the Mystery Pines Adventure Twins?!_

"You... you don't remember that, do you?" asked Dipper. She shook her head. Dipper pulled a pen from somewhere and started clicking. "Okay, we, uh, started it this past year," he explained, "It was actually your idea. You remember those silly guide to videos we made when we were twelve, well, you kept making them, and you put them up on UsTube." She nodded, she remembered him talking about that last night, or, last year, or whenever that party had been.

"Anyhow," said Dipper, "You got kinda popular, and you convinced me to put up my videos too. And well, people started asking us to do stuff together..." _No way, was he saying they were UsTube stars?_ "Look, we can talk about this later, okay?"

She really, really, wanted to hear more about this now but she just nodded. They had an adventure ahead of them. Time to explore.

"Okay, get that camera rolling, we should have four hours of storage on it. And I have two extra SD cards and an extra battery if we need them." he checked his watch. "We still have almost four hours until we need to be back to the Shack for dinner, so, let's make the most of it, and hope we don't have to swim out. Ready?" She gave him a thumbs up and pressed the record button.

"We just came in through that underwater tunnel over there," announced Dipper, pointing back behind them. She turned the camera, following where he was pointing. She got a pretty good shot of the moon pool they had come in through. "Now it's time to go deeper into the cave and see what else we can find!"

She swept the camera around the cave, trying to capture just how hugely-vastly-big it was. She paused as she turned the camera upwards. No way. She had to move her head off the viewfinder to confirm what she was seeing. The walls were stone. The floor, except for the moon pool filled with water, was stone. The ceiling, was a twisting mass of yarn, spiraling up into her sweater!

Even here, in a cave behind a waterfall, she couldn't escape the fact that all of this wasn't real! She was in sweater town pretending to be on an adventure with her brother. Except, now, she had it on video! She had video proof!

"Hey, uh, Mabel, over here," said Dipper, waving to her. He had still been walking and talking while she had been focused on the ceiling. Now he was looking where she was pointing the camera but obviously not seeing what she was seeing. He walked back over and looked in the viewfinder as she lifted it for him. "Uh, yeah, okay. I think we have enough establishing footage of this area, come on, let's head in a bit more."

She frowned, realizing that even through the camera he couldn't see what she was seeing. Dipper led the way forward and with a sigh she followed. She kept the camera on him as they went but she kept glancing up at the sweater ceiling every so often.

"Careful it's a bit slippery here," said Dipper. She took each step with care, sliding only a little. They climbed up a gradual slope of wet rocks, moving further away from the water. "I think there is some kind of passage up ahead here." His light flashed over what looked to be a giant mouth of a dragon, complete with hundreds of pointed stalactite and stalagmite teeth. "Wow! This is amazing, it almost looks like a head of a great beast, or the maw of a dragon! The Dragon's Maw!"

She smiled at the name. Her brother was really good at this off the cuff stuff. She only got to see him like this when he had been shooting his mystery videos. She liked this side of him.

"I think something is carved into the stone here," said Dipper, kneeling next to one of the stalagmites. She moved in closer with the camera. "I'm gonna get a closer look and then we will be right back!" Dipper made a sweeping motion across his neck with a hand. She wasn't sure what he meant until he said, "Cut," out loud and she turned off the recording. "Okay, I think that was a pretty good intro, do you think we should do another take of it?" The question took her by surprise, another take? There was more than one take? "No?" She shrugged and shook her head. She thought it had been fine. Dipper nodded. "Okay, maybe one extra take just in case. I think the cave is going to mess with our audio too, we should have brought the mics."

They did do another take, and another, and another. Dipper didn't seem to be happy with any of them but Mabel thought they were all great. As he was getting ready to go for a fifth time, she finally put a hand on him and tapped her wrist. They had wasted almost an hour in this first chamber. At this rate, there wasn't going to be any exploring.

"Right, right, we have to keep moving," said Dipper. "You sure we shouldn't do just one more?" She rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine, fine. Let me get a good look at that etching." Dipper returned to the carving he had found and examined it, muttering to himself. He didn't say roll camera but she did anyway. This was a side of Dipper she wanted people to see too. The smart, thoughtful, explorative side.

He pulled out a loose piece of parchment, pressed it to the stone and began to rub over it with something in his hand. The camera couldn't see it very well but Mabel could see just fine that it was some kind of runic language. Dipper held up the paper to examine it.

"Okay Mabel, start recording again," said Dipper, not looking in her direction as he examined the paper. "Mabel?" he finally looked at her, and she gave him the thumbs up, or he saw the red light. "Oh, right, you got it, ahem," Dipper cleared his throat. "I don't recognize the language, or, even if it's a language, it could be a warning, or a sign, or maybe even an address? I'll have to wait until we get back to the shack so I can consult some of my books." He looked directly at the camera. "Now I think it's time we go deeper into the cave and see what mystery lies ahead for the mystery twins!" He paused holding on that face and than did the hand gesture again. She switched off record.

"Did that sound okay, should we do it again?" asked Dipper. She rolled her eyes, was he going to ask this every time?

"Dipper," she moaned frustratedly.

"Right, right, time," said Dipper, "Okay, let's move on! Get a good shot of the runes before we go." She moved up to the stalagmite and focused the camera on it. Dipper was already wandering on ahead while she got the b-roll footage.

A silly thought occurred to her. Still recording, she fished into one of her adventure sweater pockets and found the item she was looking for, right where she expected it to be. Stickers. Cave themed, silly advice stickers. She peeled one off and stuck it just above the top character in the inscription. The sticker was of a living rock person, holding his hands above his head and the bold words below him stating, 'Rock On!'

As she pushed it against the rock, she made her usual "boop!" noise that she did whenever she was dispensing stickers to lighten the mood. Something about it felt odd though, tingly and strange. But she wasn't sure what. She lingered there for a moment longer before the voice of her brother called her keep up.

"Mabel, you have to see this! Keep the Camera rolling!" called Dipper. She turned away from the stalagmite. Before she left it completely she glanced back at the sticker one last time, trying to figure out what that strange feeling had been just now. She noticed the sticker was glowing. She smiled at that. She really was awesome sometimes, even if it was the other her that had gotten the glow in the dark stickers.

She hurried onwards. The floor was not dirt but more rock, although it wasn't as slippery as the cave entrance had been. She could see Dipper up ahead of her. As she entered the cave where he was standing, she was treated to the most amazing sight. There were what appeared to be flecks of gold in the walls. Their headlamps reflected off them causing the whole cave to glitter and sparkle.

"Are you getting this?" asked Dipper. Mabel nodded, sweeping the camera around the large cave. Dipper moved closer to a wall. "It looks like there is some kind of crystal shards embedded in the rock. This whole cave is filled with them. Let's go deeper in and see what we can find!"

So deeper in they went. There were more runes along the way, which Dipper stopped at to talk about and comment on. Who had made them? What did they say? Each one looked different from the last, were they some kind of warning, or maybe an ancient marker of some kind. Mabel recorded all of it, even the stuff Dipper didn't seem to want her to record. Whatever, that's what editing was for anyhow. After Dipper moved on from each scrawl, she would pop a sticker onto it, with a soft whispered "boop."

She wasn't sure why she was doing this. Part of her thought she was doing it because it was a trail for them to follow, so they wouldn't get lost. Although, the cave had no forks in it, so, getting lost was going to be unlikely. Another part of her thought she was doing it because it was silly fun and the runes looked much better with her helpful stickers on them, like 'StalageWILL!' and 'Ton-nle of Fun!' Okay, if she was being honest, some of the puns on these stickers were pretty bad, but still, they glowed in the dark!

Yet, she was almost sure she was placing the stickers for a completely unrelated reason. She was doing it because every time she did, there was some strange emotion running through her. It wasn't happy (okay, it was a little happy, placing stickers always made her happy), it wasn't sad, it was something else, something she didn't know how to put into real words. The best way she could describe it was, 'boop.'

She realized it at the same time Dipper heard it. He stopped in his tracks and looked at her. She was frozen mid stick, her arm extended pushing the glow in the dark, 'Dig Deep!' sticker of a dog with a shovel, onto the wall.

"Mabel, what did you just say?" asked Dipper wide eyed. She pulled her hand back from the wall as Dipper hurried up to her. He spared a glance at the sticker she had just placed before he returned his focus to her. "You said something, I heard it! Something that wasn't my name!" She had. It wasn't so much as said it as she had felt it. Dipper pulled the camera out of her hand and turned it back on her, she felt awkwardly self conscious once more.

"Entry 16-87b, go on Mabel, say it again!" Now she felt even more awkward. She pulled her sweater up over her face and shook her head. "I have to document it, for you, it won't go up on UsTube, I promise. You do all the editing anyhow. Come on, just say it!" She let the sweater roll off the bottom of her face. She took a deep breath.

"Dipper," she said. They stood there in silence for a moment. That wasn't right, it wasn't what she had wanted to say. She wanted to make the other sound. "Dipper!" she tried again but it wouldn't come out. Darn it! She had done it just a few seconds ago, now she couldn't even manage it. "Dipper! Dipper! DIPPER!" she tried again and again. She hid her face in her hands shaking her head back and forth. What was wrong with her? Why couldn't she just speak, say something else, do the thing she had been doing all day in this stupid cave!

"Mabel, Mabel! It's alright, you're fine," Dipper was hugging her once more and she was hugging him. She was crying into his shoulder, when had that started? "Look, the camera's off, you don't have to do this, I was just hoping you... you know, were able to say something else." Her crying turned into sniffles and she nodded into his shoulder. Finally they broke apart, Dipper even giving her the 'pat-pat' before she let go, she smiled at him and punched his shoulder thankfully. "Always with the punching," complained Dipper lightheartedly, rubbing his shoulder.

"Alright, look, maybe we can figure out how you did it?" he looked at the sticker she had placed on the wall, above the etching. "Maybe the cave has some magical property when you touch it?" Dipper mused. His eyes widened slightly. "Mabel, try placing another sticker." She raised an eyebrow in confusion, this wall already had a sticker. "Just try," said Dipper encouragingly.

She shrugged, peeled off a sticker and looked for a spot to place it. She looked at where she had put the first sticker, she couldn't put another there, that would be silly, that spot already had its fair share of stickers. She looked at the other wall nearby. Yeah, that wall could have a sticker, but these were glow in the dark stickers, you really didn't want to just place them willy nilly. She looked at Dipper, and smiled and pushed her thumb against his forehead. As she did, her lips parted and a soft "boop" came out of her. She felt surprised by the sound.

"Really, on my forehead," muttered Dipper, his eyes turned upwards trying to see the sticker. Then he looked at her. "You did it though, placing stickers must be like some kind of natural reflex for you or something, overcoming whatever is blocking your ability to speak... or you are really just messing with me..." She shook her head. "Okay, well, that's a step in the right direction… I guess? Look we still have a couple of hours left before we have to turn back, let's see if we can find another exit to this cave so we don't have to swim out." Mabel nodded. She wasn't looking forward to walking around in wet clothing again.

They entered into a giant room that at first didn't seem to be anything special. However, as their lights shined across it, Mabel and Dipper both let out a gasp of awe. It was like being inside a giant geode. Enormous crystals, bigger than they were, lined the floor and walls (probably the ceiling too, but that was nothing but endless yarn to Mabel). She couldn't help it, she pushed the button on her head lamp and the whole room turned blue. She clicked it again, and it was red, and again and it was pink. She started to spin around, her light clicking and changing and the room spinning with color.

"Alright, that's enough, come on, let's keep moving, and be careful," warned Dipper, "These things look – ouch!" cried Dipper. She hurried towards him. "Yep, they're sharp, watch your feet." She looked down, the floor also sparkled with little pointed shards. Carefully they made their way across the room. Neither of them made it to the other side without a few scrapes though. Her sweater caught on a shard at one point and it sliced clean through the hem. She also bumped her knee against one of them and it left a nasty little cut.

On the other side of the room, Dipper pulled out his first aid kit and patched them both up. She had a few extra cuts on her arm that she hadn't noticed getting, and a couple on her shins. They didn't hurt, she hadn't even felt them but they sure stung like hot fudge when Dipper rubbed the alcohol on them before putting on the bandaids.

They moved a bit quicker through more of the cave. Dipper still did his commentary but there was less and less to talk about as they continued. Certainly nothing like the crystal room. The cave changed very little. Apart from more runes (and stickers) along the way, there wasn't all that much new to see. After what seemed like hours of walking though, they found a bright light ahead of them. Dipper didn't run but they did hurry to the exit, bursting out through some bushes that concealed an entrance -

"RIGHT BESIDE THE FALLS?" exclaimed Dipper as they turned around. Mabel, wielding the camera, spun around to capture the secret entrance bush and the falls beside it. "How did we miss this! Wait, this doesn't make any sense! Mabel we were walking for almost three hours! The cave didn't turn or split, we can't be back at the start!" Dipper moved back to the bush and pulled it aside, the hole they had just come out of was gone. "What!" exclaimed Dipper, pressing his hand against the stone, "but, I mean, it was right here! We just came out! Mabel please tell me you got all that!" She nodded with the camera. Dipper smiled and stood up a little straighter. "That concludes Entry 15-88, this is Mabel and," he nodded to her and she turned the camera to herself briefly.

"Dipper!" she said excitedly.

"Signing off, see you next adventure!" concluded Dipper. She pressed stop and Dipper almost jumped into the air with excitement. "Mabel! That was amazing! I can't believe we got that on tape! We'll need to edit it down for sure, but, wow! That might be our best one yet! Come on, let's get home, I can't wait to tell Great Uncle Ford!"

* * *

The walk home was much less exciting. When they reached the Mystery Shack, Mabel hurried back up to their shared bathroom and retrieved her bra from under the tub. She took a bit longer to look over herself this time. She stripped off all her clothes and did a little spin in the mirror. She giggled as she looked at her butt. Yep, she and Dipper had the same butt! Flat and adorable. Beyond the breast sticking out of her chest and the hair down below her waist, there wasn't actually all that much too different about her.

She looked at the many little bandaids and wraps Dipper had put on her after the crystal room. She looked a little banged up but not too bad. She hoped she wouldn't mind waking up tomorrow with a few scrapes on her. She had never minded before. Her smile turned a little sad on her face. Waking up tomorrow.

She had never managed to stay in sweater town more than one day. And each time she returned it was a year later. She had been coming here for three days now, since... since she had started coming here. If she came back tomorrow, she would be a year older, a year different. She wouldn't wake up tomorrow, she would wake up in a year! It wasn't fair. This was here fantasy world right? Why couldn't she just wake up tomorrow! Heck, why did she even have to go to sleep in the first place!

Mabel nodded determinedly into the mirror. She had decided, she wasn't going to go to sleep.

* * *

Both great uncles had stopped by for dinner that night. Dipper had explained to them that Mabel had lost a dare, and was not allowed to say anything but his name until tomorrow morning. Grunkle Stan found it hilarious and complimented her on keeping up her end. Great Uncle Ford however did not look convinced. The conversation she'd had with him the last time was forefront in her mind.

Dipper launched into a mostly accurate recount of their cave exploration, leaving out some choice parts about their swim and such. Ford seemed fascinated by the story, especially the part about the disappearing exit. He wanted to talk to Dipper about it after dinner, see some of his drawings, compare notes. Mabel on the other hand just headed up to their room once dinner was over. She found the camera they had used that day lying on Dipper's bed, charging. Mabel picked it up and looked into the lens. It wasn't on, it wasn't recording her, but she wanted it to. She took a deep breath. She was going to do this.

She flipped on the camera and pressed record.

"Dipper," she said into the lens, she tried again. "Dipper, Dipppper, Dipper." She fished out a sticker from her pocket and pressed it against her forehead. "Boop." There it was, the video evidence her brother wanted. She had no idea what he would do with it or what Mabel would say to it when she saw it.

She put the camera back then changed into her nightshirt. She wasn't sure if she was supposed to wear a bra underneath, after all she hadn't had one on all day. She had intended to slip back on the one she had taken off that morning but couldn't work out the straps. So she had just gone without it once again, not that anyone seemed to notice or comment on it. She decided that now was not the time to try figuring it out. There was going to be no one hugging her tonight and no water to make her clothing see through. She should be fine.

Mabel sat up in bed, not tired, and not wanting to go to sleep. They'd had a crazy adventure today, complete with danger, excitement, semi nudity and some scrapes and bruises. She really had missed this. After they had come back from Gravity Falls things just hadn't been the same, not really. Without that freedom to go on adventures, they just resumed their lives like nothing had happened. They went back to being normal. And normal was so - she stifled a tired yawn - boring.

She lay down in her bed. Maybe just a quick nap after such a long day. She was feeling completely drained. Just, a quick -


	4. Chapter 4 - The Laptop

Sweater Town

Chapter 4 – The Laptop

By Starwin

* * *

Darn it! DARN IT, DARN IT, **DARN IT**! Mabel smooshed her hands into her face in frustration. When she pulled her hands away she hoped everything would be how she expected. A blank white ceiling - not a sweater - greeted her as she uncovered her eyes and blinked. Crisscrossing overhead were strings of Christmas lights, although they weren't on at the moment. She had replaced the green and red bulbs with an assortment of custom ones. There were reindeer, unicorns, snowmen, hearts, icicles, cakes and even a sweater shaped one.

They were there to cheer her up, something to comfort her in the dark, to remind her of joyous times. Each point of light was a memory of where she was, and where she had been. Now of course, they all too blatantly shouted where she wasn't. She was in the wrong room, her room.

She couldn't keep her eyes open for just a few more minutes, she'd just had to take a nap. And now, here she was. Back in her stupid bed, back in her stupid room, back in her stupid world.

She turned her head to look at the non-existent bed on the far side of the room. Obviously there was going to be no Dipper over there. Yet, beyond all hope she wished for just a fading glimpse of her brother. Alas, it was simply her wall, covered in boy band posters, hand paintings she'd made, sweater ideas, pictures of her with her pig, her friends… her brother. He was sort of there in a small way.

Mabel turned back over, pulling a pillow over her head. She never wanted to get out of bed ever again!

Her body on the other hand protested loudly. _Oh come on!_ That just wasn't fair! Her bladder disagreed with her about fairness. Strongly disagreed.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, she rolled out of bed and trotted unhappily to the bathroom. She let her body do what it needed to do then trudged half awake back out into the hall. She was ready to crawl back into bed and never leave it again.

"Mabel, are you up?" called her mother from downstairs. Mabel groaned inwardly. Of course her mother knew she was up. Mabel didn't respond, how could she anyhow? "Your appointment's in an hour. Take a shower and get ready."

Mabel groaned outwardly, the sound escaping as a louder than she intended, "Diiiipppppeeerrrrr..." She clamped a hand over her mouth. There was a pause and she wondered what her mother had heard.

"No arguments," came her mother's voice, with only the slightest note of uncertainty. "You've been up in your room for three days. You need to take a shower before you go out in public, young lady." Mabel groaned again, turned right around and marched back into the bathroom.

She didn't have the same aversion to water as her brother. She liked showers, she loved baths! Especially bubble baths! The bathroom sadly only had a shower. So, baths were very rare, as she had to request the use of her parent's on-suite bathroom to take one.

A quick sniff of herself told Mabel that she really should take a shower, she was getting kinda gross. She paused in front of the mirror as she saw her thirteen-year-old self staring back at her. She was still wearing her shooting star sweater over her nightshirt, the same nightshirt she had been wearing for days.

Something else caught her attention. On her shoulder. She moved closer to the mirror. YOU HAD TO BE FUDGING KIDDING! She poked at the new hole that had torn open in the sweater's shoulder. Another hole! What the heck was going on? She tugged off her sweater so she could see it better.

Yep, a second hole, she confirmed. There were now two rips in her sweater. Well, that was just great. And if it was anything like the first one, she wouldn't be able to fix it.

Mabel tossed her sweater onto the floor then tugged off her nightshirt. She paused, holding the garment in front of her chest, wrapped around her hands. Slowly she lowered it, looking at her strangely young body once more. A body with a mostly flat chest. A body that had old bandages covering her cuts and bruises. A body that felt familiar and unnatural at the same time. She tossed the nightshirt aside and began peeling off the bandages.

Normally she would be fascinated by what was underneath, peeling away each one to see the secrets below. However, she wasn't in the mood and didn't really have the time. So, she just tugged them off, wincing as they came away and tossing them into the bin.

She turned the hot all the way up and waited for the steam to come. She stripped off the last bit of her clothing (icky, three days without an underwear change) before turning to look at herself once more in the mirror. She looked pretty banged up. There was a long red gash across her forehead. One of her shoulders was colored yellow and purple. Both elbows and knees were starting to scab over. Several dozen other little cuts and scrapes were peppered all over her body.

She also looked thinner. Her eyes seemed more hollow than she was able to recall. Even her hair, which hadn't suffered any damage, was less bouncy. Yes, she needed a wash.

Steam billowing out at last, Mabel climbed into the small shower and pulled the curtain closed. Scalding hot water blasted against her skin and she let out a contented sigh. There were two things she loved about this shower. First, was its water pressure, it was amazing! If she had been covered in paint it could have stripped it off her. The other thing was how hot she could make it. She could make it boiling, just how she liked it. It was hot enough that her skin would be bright red, almost like she was sunburned.

Dipper on the other hand, liked his showers cold for some odd reason. Okay, not cold-cold, more like lukewarm. It might as well been cold though. That was fine with her, more hot water for her.

The smile that had been on her lips frowned as the hot water blasted her in the face. She had thought about Dipper again like he was still here. Like he would come banging at the door any second begging for her to finish because he really needed to go, right now. And she would take her sweet time and sing as loudly as she could. This would let him know she could hear him and would make him wait his turn.

Her voice hummed out the perfect song to annoy her brother, lyrics all replaced with his name. It also didn't help that she started crying halfway through the first verse. Thankfully there was a wall to support her.

She was finally able to pull herself together long enough to soap up, scrub down and let the water wash some of her filth away. But just the stuff on the surface. All the junked up feelings inside her were still there, the water couldn't get rid of that.

She shut off the tap, wrapped a towel around her, gathered up her clothing and hurried down the hall to her room. She found clean clothes and pulled on her warmest, fluffiest sweater she had. It was a thick blue one with sparkling silver stars (her hair covered the Big Dipper constellation she had sewn into the back). Once dressed she made her way downstairs where her mother was waiting.

A very quick breakfast of oatmeal, with milk and honey (sadly no sugar) and orange slices waited for her. Mabel ate quickly while her mother kept looking at her watch. Mabel thought about slowing down and deliberately taking as long as possible to eat. But, she really wasn't up for a fight with her mom right now.

"Ready to go?" asked her mother, it wasn't a question, just a statement of the obvious. Mabel nodded but her mom was already moving towards the front door. Mabel followed but stopped at the threshold. This - this was going to be the first time she would ever be outside her house without her brother. There was going to be a lot more firsts of that…

She took a deep breath and stepped outside. It didn't feel any different. She let out a sigh and heard a car door close forcefully. Her mother was looking at her perhaps a bit impatiently. Mabel pulled the front door to the house closed behind her and hurried to the car. She thought very briefly about sitting up front. Dipper and her often did verbal battle for the right to sit up front, calling shotgun loudly over each other. She sat in back, on the opposite side of the car from her mom.

They made the drive in silence. Her mother unable to think of anything to say. Or, perhaps taking Mabel's absence of chatter that she didn't want to talk. Either way, Mabel was oddly fine with it. Usually a silent car was an unhappy car, it needed to be filled with singing, or giggling, or chatting. She stayed quiet the whole way.

She hardly remembered the drive beyond its silence. Soon enough they were in an underground parking structure. Her mom was leading her over to a stairwell that would take them up into the building above. A few flights of stairs and they were in the lobby. Her mom was reading the directory board on where to go. Then they were in an elevator and then an office and then Mabel was sitting, waiting.

It looked a lot like a doctor's waiting room, mostly because it was. But it was more friendly somehow, not sterile disinfected white. Her mother picked up a magazine and browsed through it but Mabel just sat there. She didn't feel nervous, or excited, or really anything. She was just there, like an empty lump. She just wanted this to be over so she could crawl back into bed, pull her sweater over her head and drift back into her dream world.

That brought a sad little smile to her face. She wondered what adventures she and her brother would go on today? Maybe fighting dragons? Oh, that sounded like fun, they had never done that! Or hunt down some cute vampires! Also a good time. That one might be just for her though.

She looked down at her sweater. Why hadn't she brought her shooting star sweater with her? She could have already escaped back into her fantasy world! Instead, she was trapped in this stupid office about to talk to some stupid person that was just going to make her feel all icky inside.

"And you must be Mabel," said a soft female voice. Mabel blinked, only now just realizing there was someone standing in front of her. The person had been talking but until she had said Mabel's name, none of it had registered. She was a dark haired woman with olive colored skin and soft brown eyes. She was dressed in semi casual attire and smiled in a way that Mabel found strangely comforting. She held out a hand to Mabel. "My name is Rebecca, it's nice to meet you." Somewhat automatically more than anything else, Mabel took the woman's hand and shook it.

"Do you think you're up to having a chat with me?" Mabel shrugged. Not, really? This was going to be pretty one sided. Rebecca's smile didn't waver. "I'll take that as a maybe from Mabel. Why don't we step into my office." She looked at her mother. "She's welcome to come along if you like." She shook her head and there was the slightest frown on her mother's mouth but she didn't say anything. "Alright. She can always come in later if you need her."

Rebecca, stood back up and waited for Mabel to do the same. After a long moment she slid out of her chair. Rebecca didn't lead the way but instead held out a hand towards the open door at the end of the room. Mabel took another deep breath then started towards it. This, was probably going to go badly. But she just had to get done with it and than she could go home.

The office on the other side was not exactly what she had been expecting. She had imagined a big desk and fancy degrees plastered on the walls. This, looked closer to a kindergarten classroom. One side had a shelf full of toys of all shapes and sizes, from blocks to stuffed animals. There was a play mat over there as well. In the center there were a couple of very comfy looking beanbag chairs. There were also some nice looking armchairs against the far wall, near a large-ish bookshelf.

Mabel didn't know where she was supposed to go or what she was supposed to do. She looked behind her as Rebecca stepped into the room. The woman closed the door and said, "The door is for your privacy, if at any time you want to leave you can. But I ask that you try and stay until the end." Mabel nodded, not sure what else to do. Rebecca motioned to the rest of the room. "You can pick the area most suited to you, or even mix and match, whatever makes you the most comfortable. Take your time."

Mabel turned back to the room, her eyes sweeping over it once more. A stuffed animal actually sounded pretty good right now. She went over to the toy shelf and found exactly what she was looking for. The perfect thing. She pulled a large, stuffed pig off the shelf and cuddled it in her arms. She looked at Rebecca for approval.

"Mr. Pigington, a good choice," said Rebecca with an approving nod and smile. "Now, where would you like to sit?" Mabel looked around, she had initially thought there were only two seating arrangements, beanbags or recliners. But it turned out there were even more scattered around. There was some kind of half sofa things she thought she was meant to lie down on. There were also folding chairs, pillows they could spread out on the floor, a couch, even a camp bed in one corner that reminded her of the Mystery Shack. Not that one. She didn't need to feel that way right now.

She picked the beanbags. They were soft and squishy and hugged her body as she fowamped down into one. To her surprise, Rebecca did the same, taking the one across from her. The woman smiled at her with perfect white teeth and Mabel smiled back.

"I used to have braces too," said Rebecca. "I hated them so much!" Mabel nodded her agreement. "They'll be gone before you know it. Then you'll have an even more beautiful smile." Mabel had to admit she was starting to like this lady a lot. Stuffed pigs, beanbag chairs, disliking braces!

"Let me go first, if you don't mind," continued Rebecca. Mabel was all for letting her go 100% of the time. That didn't seem like it was going to happen. "Mabel, this is a safe environment for you to talk about what you're going through. Everything you tell me is confidential, meaning I won't tell anyone any of it, not even your parents." She looked serious for a moment. "But just because I can't tell them the details, doesn't mean I won't be telling them what I think can help you. For this to work, for me to help you, you need to be honest with me and you need to trust me. Something that's hard to do with a stranger.

"So, today, we're just going to talk, about whatever you want," said Rebecca. "I don't have any questions for you. I just want you to talk about anything that's on your mind. About school, about things you're working on, any sports or games you're playing. Anything you want. Can you do that?" For a long moment Mabel didn't respond. At last, she shook her head. She wanted to do that, she would have really enjoyed doing that. Sharing her hobbies was one of her favorite things to do. But she couldn't. Rebecca's smile fell ever so slightly at this head shake.

"You don't want to talk to me?" she asked. Mabel shook her head. "You haven't said a word since I met you. Are you afraid to talk to me?" Again, she shook her head. "Mabel… _can_ you talk to me?" Shake. "Can… can you say anything at all?" Mabel closed her eyes and took another deep breath.

"Dipper," she whispered, then stared at Rebecca. The woman paused for a moment.

"Your brother's nickname?" she confirmed. Mabel nodded. "Can you say anything else at all?" She shook her head. She guessed she could say 'boop' as well but only when she had stickers. Trying to communicate that would be difficult. Plus, she had only done that in sweater town, she didn't even know if she could do it here. "I see." Rebecca looked at her with an unreadable expression for a long moment.

"I like your sweater," commented Rebecca. Mabel looked down at it automatically, pulling aside the stuffed pig she had been crushing to her chest. The stars were sequins. They flickered and sparkled as she moved around. There wasn't a pattern on the front and she wasn't going to show off the back. "Did you make that yourself?" Mabel nodded. "Your mother tells me you are quite the crafter." Mabel shrugged, she could certainly be when she was in the mood. "I have painting supplies if you would like?"

She wasn't really up for painting but... she shrugged. What else was she supposed to do. Rebecca got up and motioned for her to come back to the toy cabinet. From the bottom drawers, Rebecca pulled out paper and paint and glitter and stickers. Okay, so maybe she was kind of in the mood to do some painting, maybe just a little.

"Brushes or fingers?" asked Rebecca, producing a set of brushes and holding them out. Mabel wiggled her fingers with a smile. Painting was best left to fingers. Rebecca smiled. "Fingers it is."

Much to her surprise, as Rebecca laid out the paper, she took some sheets for herself. Before Mabel could even get started, Rebecca, a full grown adult, a therapist, was dipping her fingers into the paint and started working on her own picture.

"What," asked Rebecca with a smile. "I like finger painting too."

The two of them spent the rest of the time painting away. Mabel worked on several different drawings. One was of dolphin-acorns that shot rainbows from their blowholes. Another was of the sweater sky she kept seeing, it was weird to look it on paper. She thought it was less a sweater and more pink swirls. She was finishing up her masterpiece of the Mystery Shack, complete with both her Uncles, Soos, Melody, Wendy, Candy, Grenda, Waddles and her brother, when there was a soft chirp from Rebecca's pocket.

Rebecca wiped her hands on a cloth and pulled out a smartphone. She smiled at Mabel.

"Just about done there Mabel?" she asked, looking at the drawing. Mabel nodded, putting the last touches on Waddles. "Is that you and your brother," asked Rebecca pointing to the two people in the center of her finger painting. "You look older here."

Mabel looked back at the picture and realized that she had indeed made them both older. Dipper had the peach fuzz around his chin and she had… boobs. Darn it. Why had she drawn those in? Why had she made them older at all?

"I think it's a great drawing," said Rebecca seeing Mabel's scowl. "I think they're all great. You don't mind if I keep them do you?" Mabel shrugged. She might have liked to keep this one, until it was pointed out how she had drawn it. "Thank you, why don't you go clean up at the sink?" Rebecca motioned to a wash area in the back. Mabel trotted over and rinsed off her hands. Luckily she hadn't gotten any paint on her sweater. Years of painting in sweaters had prepared her for this.

When Mabel finished and came back, the floor had been cleaned up, the paint put away, the drawings collected and set on a shelf to dry.

"I'm going to have you wait outside for just a moment while I speak to your mother, alright?" asked Rebecca, guiding Mabel to the door. Mabel nodded. Rebecca took her back to the seat where she had started then asked for Mabel's mom to come with her. She had thought it would only take a minute or two - they obviously hadn't talked about very much - but as the minutes dragged on, she started to worry. What could they be talking about in there?

At last the door reopened, and Rebecca emerged once more, along with her very worried looking mother. Rebecca smiled at Mabel and gave her a little wave goodbye. Mabel waved back. Then her mother took her hand and led her back towards the car.

The ride home was just as silent as the ride there. This time though it was almost unbearable. What had Rebecca said to her mom? What had she told her that Mabel wasn't aloud to hear? Why wasn't her mom saying anything? Mabel looked determinedly out the window trying to free herself of the strange sensation radiating from her mother.

Not soon enough they were back home, the silence between them still strange and awkward. The moment they were at the house, Mabel went right up to her room. She was ready not to be in this reality anymore. However, she paused at the top of the stairs. She heard her mother picking up the phone and dialing someone.

She wasn't really into all that eavesdropping stuff. Okay, no, that was a total lie, she loved to listen in on conversations not meant for her. Somehow, she knew this one wasn't just not meant for her, it was going to be about her.

"Hey, it's me," said her Mom. "Call me back when you get this, we need to talk about Mabel." Darn it, stupid voice mail! There was a click downstairs and she could hear the soft sobs of her mother crying. Mabel felt like kind of a jerk listening in on that part, so she tiptoed softly the rest of the way to her room.

Her shooting star sweater was waiting for her on her bed as she came in. She couldn't climb into it fast enough. She'd had too much of this stupid world. This time, she had no intention of ever coming back from sweater town.

* * *

Entering sweater town was almost instant. It took only the briefest recollection of that most terrible moment. However, the tumble down into it felt like it took longer this time. She couldn't explain it, but she wasn't just falling she was soaring. It as such a strange sensation.

Just when she thought she was never going to reach the ground, her fall ended with the usual thud. She was so glad to be anywhere other than her house right now. She didn't need her mom's drama, she didn't want to know what things that Rebecca woman had said about her. And most of all, she didn't need to be in a house without her brother anymore.

Her brother was fine. He would be right here like he had been the last three times she had visited. There was a clank of something metallic falling to the ground. Mabel felt her leg and foot get sprayed with something cool and sticky. She looked down to find a spilled can of Pitt rolling up against her foot.

"Mabel!" cried her brother's familiar squeaky voice, although, slightly deeper than last time. And, maybe a bit more panicked? She felt herself smile as she turned towards him but that smile turned into confusion as she saw his face. "What- when did you get here? How did you get here?" She tilted her head at her brother in confusion. "Agh! No! I don't want to talk to you right now! I thought you were staying home this summer! Why are you even here!"

"Dipper?" Mabel asked. He was tugging down on his blue ball cap as hard as he could, trying to hide himself but he released his death grip as she spoke.

"Wait," whispered Dipper, "Blueberry muffins." She licked her lips and nodded. That sounded amazing right now, she could totally go for one of those. Sweater town was already really delivering on this trip! She hoped there was honey for those muffins, cuze she was gonna eat them all. "Mabel, remember, this is important: _Blue_. _Berry_. _Muffins_." Dipper repeated emphasizing each word as he said it. She nodded again, indicating that she did indeed want some blueberry muffins, why was he being so weird? "Other Mabel," whispered Dipper to himself. She raised an eyebrow, not understanding why they weren't getting muffins right now and shoving them into their faces.

Dipper fished in his pocket and pulled out a cellphone. It was the latest Roboto D6, it looked very sleek in his hands. Quickly he tapped his fingers across it and held it up to his ear. He was calling someone, that was kind of rude...

She felt a buzz in the pocket of her skirt and music began to play.

 _Space Unicorn_

 _Flying through the stars_

 _Delivering the rainbows all around the world!_

The color drained out of Dipper's face. His gaze moved from staring pointedly away, to her ringing pocket. She reached into the folds of her skirt and pulled out a glossy pink Pear 5 πPhone. It was currently ringing and had the face - startled and squinting against a bright flash, clearly caught by surprise - and name of her brother on the screen. She pressed answer and lifted it up to her ear.

"Dipper?" she said with a smile. Dipper let out a yelp and dropped his phone. Frantically, he tried to catch it again before it hit the floor. It slipped through his hands and hit the wood with a clatter.

"This isn't possible, how do you have Mabel's phone? And how did you get here from California! She was just there this morning!" said Dipper, scooping up his phone from the floor. She shrugged, not really sure what he was on about. Dipper hung up the call.

"The house!" he exclaimed excitedly and pressed something else on his phone. It began to ring but no one seemed to answer. "Come on Mabel, pick up the phone! Please!" She shook her head in confusion, Dipper had really lost it, how was she supposed to pick up the house phone from here? What was wrong with him. After many rings it rolled to the answering machine. "Mabel, call me the moment you get this, it happened again! She's here, right now! Call me!"

Dipper hung up and Mabel finally understood. _Dipper_ ,finally understood. She chewed her lip. The gig was up. He knew she wasn't really his sister. Well, okay, she was. But, only sort of. The two of them stood awkwardly in the hallway, neither one talking. Mabel, because she couldn't really say very much, and Dipper, because he was apparently weirded out by what was going on.

She lifted her foot out of the puddle of the spilled soda. Well, if her brother was going to be weird, at least she could clean up a bit. She made to go to the kitchen and get some paper towels but Dipper moved quickly to block her path.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where do you think you're going?" said Dipper, eyeing her up and down. She gestured to the floor, Dipper glanced at the spill. "Oh, right, of course, I'll get that, you just - you wait here, and... you know... don't move." He backed out of the room, holding up his hands in a gesture of her not moving. She rolled her eyes. "Don't move," he repeated before vanishing into the kitchen.

He was out of view a brief instant before his head reappeared, checking that she had indeed not moved. She rolled her eyes again. However, this time as his head vanished, she took a few steps forward and put her back against the side of the doorframe. When Dipper checked on her again, she would appear to have vanished. She didn't have to wait long.

"Mabel! MABEL!" Dipper shouted in a panic as he re-entered the hallway, walking right past her. She struck like lightning, wrapping her hands around his eyes from behind and holding him hostage, "Ahhh! Mabel! No fair! Let me go!" but she didn't release him, instead, she made him pay for letting down his guard and licked the back of his neck.

"EWWW, MABEL, gross!" he complained, trying and failing to struggle free of her grip. She didn't let up, she was having too much fun. She attacked his most vulnerable spot, his side, with a raspberry. Dipper squealed like a little girl as his sister blew into his side. Even with his shirt in the way, he nearly collapsed, giggling uncontrollably at the tickling attack. "Stop! Stop! Mabel! STOP!"

This last plea for mercy was what made her finally relent. It had been an angry shout rather than a good natured, having fun cry. She finally let him go and Dipper pulled roughly away from her. He took a few steps away before turning to face her, rubbing the side of his arm.

"Look, we need to talk, you and me, seriously," said Dipper looking at her, his face very serious. She nodded slowly. Although, she knew it was going to be more him talking than her. "Why don't you go wait upstairs in our – in the attic. I'll be up in just a minute, okay?" She nodded again then walked past her brother and up the stairs leading to their shared room.

This was the first time she hadn't arrived in their room. Maybe her arrival had to do with Dipper, and where he was. That sort of made sense. She had always arrived near him. After all, this whole place was for him, to see him, to be with him here...

Her thoughts trailed off as she climbed the stairs. She shook her head. No. This whole place was for her because he… he was…

She shook her head again. She was not going to think about anything outside of sweater town right now. Never in sweater town. This was her time and the real world could go suck a lemon. If she had it her way, she would never go back home. She was never going back home. She would stay here. Forever.

She opened the door to their room and stopped. She blinked, not really understanding what she was seeing. Dipper's half of the room was much like it had been the last time but a few things had changed. The mystery board he had been shuffled around with a new puzzle to solve. He had also put up some different posters, and his clothing was, as always, spread across most of the floor. However, it was not Dipper's side that had really caught her attention. It was her side. It was empty.

The bed was completely bare, without even sheets on it. No posters, no stuffed animals, no stickers, no scrap book, no sweaters, no Mabel. She felt herself start to panic. Where was her stuff? Where was she? She took halting steps into the room towards her bed, touching it to make sure it was real. It was. It was also empty and unused.

"She isn't here," said Dipper's voice from behind her. She spun to see him leaning on the doorframe watching her. "She's in California. She didn't want to come this year. She didn't want..." he looked away and took a deep breath before coming into the room and closing the door behind him.

She watched him as he crossed to his bed and sat on the edge. He motioned for her to take a seat on her own, unused, bed across from him. Instead, she took two strides to his bed and sat right next to him. Dipper looked slightly uncomfortable but just shook his head, seeing an argument he wasn't going to win. She looked at him, willing him to continue.

"We, we had a fight," said Dipper at last. She blew a 'pfft' sound through her lips, that was it? A fight? So what? "A bad one. A big one, Mabel. Worse than any we've ever had..." he trailed off, looking down at his feet, not seeming to want to continue. She scooted over closer to him and wrapped him in a one armed hug. She smiled encouragingly. He had the tiniest smile back.

"Okay... so, this was our junior year," explained Dipper, "you know, in high school." She nodded, some quick math meant that she was at least sixteen. Her body didn't seem to have changed that much from last time, but, really she wasn't super focused on it right now. "So we're looking at colleges, trying to figure out where we're going to go, you know." Again she nodded and gave her brother an encouraging squeeze to continue.

"You want – I mean, Mabel wants to go to the California School of Fine Arts and Artistry, down in San Diego." That sounded like a place she would like. Dipper frowned. "But I have my eye on the Pennsylvania Institute of Transferable Technology, in, you know Pennsylvania, on the other side of the country." She nodded, that sounded like a place he would go, although, her geography wasn't good enough to confirm other side of the country. Dipper looked at her, uncertainty and worry on his face. "Mabel, we would be separated from each other! Apart for the first time for a long time! And I know we would have SeeMyFaceVideo chat, but, it won't be the same..."

He trailed off, searching her face for something, anything to let him know what she was feeling about this. However, she didn't know how to feel. Both schools sounded like things they would each like. There were things they both enjoyed for sure. But their similar interests only went so far. And, when it came to careers, their school choices would be fairly different, wouldn't they? Of course, maybe they could each settle on something less than their first choices, find schools closer together or something... She looked back at Dipper, unable to really give him an answer. So she shrugged. He still hadn't told her why the argument had been so bad.

"You're siding with her, aren't you?" asked Dipper, narrowing his eyes. She gave him an exasperated look.

"Dippppeerrrr," she groaned. He seemed to snap out of it.

"Right, darn it, I keep forgetting, you look... you act – you're so much like her, minus the words thing, my Mabel never shuts up," said Dipper, his last words were playful.

She gave him an indignant shove then she launched a second tickle attack on him. Soon his eyes were watering and he was once more begging for mercy but she could tell he enjoyed it. Once he had regained some semblance of himself, he sat upright again. Mabel gestured for him to get on with it.

"Right, right... We had a fight," he repeated. She gave him a look that said, 'and?' "We had a fight because you want us to give up on our college dreams and - " Dipper broke off looking away from her.

Mabel raised her hands as if to say, 'what?'

"Mabel! I don't want us to just settle on something! We have great things ahead of us," cried Dipper. "CSFAA is an opportunity for you! Do you know how many great artists come out of that school? I mean, they already accepted you! Scholarship and all! You can't just give up on that so that it's easier for us to chat sometimes!" She frowned at him. She knew that if she had her acceptance letter here and now, she would rip it in half. "And you ripped your acceptance letter in half!" Oh, well, that made sense.

"I haven't been accepted yet, but you – I mean, my Mabel, Original Mabel," she gave him a sour look at the name, "Yes, you've – darn it, she's said it's a terrible name, but I'm not calling you – her, cute Mabel, and you, adorable Mabel!" odd, that was what she had been thinking would be perfect names for them, just the other way around, she was obviously the cute one. "For now, you're other Mabel and she's just Mabel or Original Mabel if I really need to differentiate." Well those were just plain dumb names.

She knew she could do better than that. It was easy to think of herself as Mabel, she just needed a different name for her counterpart. Well, actually that was easy too. She could just think of her other self as Bel. It was a sort of cute nickname her father had used for her when she was younger but he hadn't called her that in years.

"Look, names aren't the point!" cried Dipper in frustration, pulling her back into the conversation. "Mabel found a school here in Oregon, not more than an hour from Gravity Falls that we could both attend!" Finished Dipper at last.

Well that was even better! They could keep going to the same school, maybe even have some of the same classes. That sounded perfect. Dipper however just looked flustered and upset.

"You – You think it's a good idea too, don't you? To give up on our chances and force ourselves into this, just to stay together?" She took a long moment before she answered, trying to give the appearance of at least thinking it over, then nodded.

"Of course. Of course you would take her side," Dipper said, shaking his head. "I mean, you are kind of her, aren't you?" She shrugged at this. She had never met Bel before, so, she could only guess what she was like. Dipper put his head in his hands. "You have no idea how hard it's been without her." He said. "It's only been a few days since I left her behind in California, but it feels like she has been out of my life for weeks now. It's like I've lost her forever just because I won't... agree with her."

Mabel didn't answer. She might even have laughed out loud at this. Then her brain filtered out the reason it was so morbidly funny to her. Dipper was here, right beside her, in her one armed hug. He was fine, he wasn't gone.

"The worst part of all this is I think she's right," said Dipper. "About everything she wants. I don't think I could continue to do this without her in my life. The last time we almost parted ways it was nearly the end of the world! She's my sister, my best friend, my twin! It's like I would be leaving a part of myself behind. I would do anything for you - for her. No matter what it is." She nodded again but felt like she had lost the thread somewhat.

"That's why she stayed in California," continued Dipper softly. "She said if I wanted to be far away from her, I could spend a summer on my own to discover how much I liked being alone." Dipper looked back down at the floor. "And... I hate it. I hate feeling like this." He looked at the empty bed across the way. "I hate not having her here." He looked at her. "I miss you sis." She smiled weakly back at him, feeling that his words were only partly meant for her. He took a deep breath. "So...

"So I guess we should talk about the elephant in the room," said Dipper, his eyes still locked on her. "I, don't have an elephant prop ready for a joke." Her excitement diminished a little. She would have had at least an elephant sticker at the ready. "You, Other Mabel." She stuck out her tongue at the name, he really could do better! Okay, maybe he couldn't but she could! She just hoped Bel could come up with something as equally cute as she had and convince Dipper to use it. "Do you want me to call you Mabel number 2?" She shook her head, absolutely not! That was even worse! "Right, so, Other Mabel it is, at least for now.

"It took me a while to figure it out," explained Dipper. "And, I mean, I still don't have all of it figured out. It would be really helpful if you could somehow tell me..." he looked at her hoping for her to launch into an explanation.

"Dipper," she said apologetically shrugging her shoulders and shaking her head.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," said Dipper with a nod. "I went through several theories..." and here, he pulled a blue leather bound journal out from under its hiding place beneath his pillow.

Mabel smiled. Under the pillow was the same place her Dipper like to hide his journal. At first, she thought it was the same book she had brought with her but it wasn't, not exactly. This one was the same blue color and it still had a silver pine tree on the front but it was labeled with a black number '2' instead. A moment later he pulled out a second, nearly identical book, except with the number '1' on it. Dipper smiled.

"Do you like it? You - I mean - Original Mabel made another one for me when we filled the first journal. She gave it to me on our last birthday..." his face fell as he ran his hand over it, seeming to get lost in his own thoughts. She gave him a squeeze and he snapped back. "Right, sorry," He pushed book two back under his pillow before he flipped book one open, flying past most of the book. Some pages were dated and she watched November and January and March quickly flip by as he landed in June. At the top was a heading, _The Other Mabel_. In cute pink handwriting below was _(Adorable Mabel)_ _._

She began to scan the page, not waiting for Dipper to read it to her.

 _She showed up again this year, I'm sure of it. For a whole day Mabel wasn't able to say anything except my name! Even still, she acted just like herself in every other way. We even ended up going on an adventure together into that hidden cave under the waterfall. We barely made it out of there and Mabel got scratched up in the process. She doesn't know it but she left my camera recording after she made her video. At midnight, for just a moment, I caught a frame of something incredible!_

Here, a still image had been pasted into the book. She found it slightly creepy that her brother had a video of her sleeping. She found it even more creepy that in the image she could see two of herself. One lying blissfully asleep in bed, the other, a ghostly apparition floating up in silver wisps. All she remembered was falling asleep.

 _When I talked to her the next morning, Mabel was fuzzy on the details of the previous day. It was like it had all been a dream for her. She agreed there was something in the video, although neither of us are sure what it is. Great Uncle Ford seems to think it might be some kind of possession. Like how Bill took over my body._

 _Additionally, all of the scratches she suffered are still there! She wouldn't let me check all of them, but after having the room to herself. She confirmed there were scratches on her she didn't remember having before. The ones that were visible matched up with the video I took on our adventure._

 _This seems to answer one of my big questions about whose body is here. It appears to be_ _Original_ _(Cute)_ _Mabel's body. but_ _Other_ _(Adorable)_ _Mabel's mind. This opens up even more questions, what happens if she isn't in Gravity Falls? What if something really bad happens when_ _Other_ _(Adorable)_ _Mabel is here? Where does my sister go when_ _Other_ _(Adorable)_ _Mabel is here?_

"So," said Dipper with a cough. Mabel lost her place and looked up at her brother, he had been watching her read. "We come to the problem of who you are, or what you are." She pulled back from her brother. She was Mabel! She was his sister! His twin!... right? She looked away and subconsciously pulled a lock of hair into her mouth to chew on it. "You act like my sister," continued Dipper. "I mean, except for the whole, only able to say my name thing. There's no way I would've been able to tell you apart. And you don't seem to mean either her or me any harm." Mabel turned back to him, shaking her head, eyes wide. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt him! Dipper took a long breath.

"Are you my sister?" he asked again. Slowly, she shrugged, trying to give her best expression of 'maybe?' "You - you don't know?" asked Dipper. She shook her head sadly. "Are you..." he paused to think if his words made sense. "Are you Mabel Pines?" She nodded. "Am I your brother?" again, the maybe shrug. "What's with that shrug? If you're Mabel then I'm your brother, right?" Shrug. "Gahhh!" Dipper groaned, rubbing his face. "If only you could just tell me!" He shook his head. "Okay, wait, I have something for this. I didn't think I would actually use it, because it's a silly idea," he shot a sideways glance at her as he said it.

He flipped back through the journal and she got a glimpse of a few pages as they fluttered past. They caught her eye because instead of the normal blue ink Dipper liked to use, these pages had pink and purple and green and red handwriting on them. Much to her surprise, he stopped on one such page. She felt her eyes widen as she recognized her own neat handwriting and choice of multi-colored writing implements, and stickers, lots of stickers. "I can't believe I'm going to even try this," muttered Dipper. She started to read the pages but Dipper pulled the journal away so she couldn't see it.

"Okay, are you an alien?" asked Dipper. She blinked then slowly shook her head. "A ghost?" Shake. "A Vampire?" A frowning shake. "A zombie?" A very frowning shake. "A bunch of gnomes in an overcoat?"

"Dipper," asked Mabel in annoyance. She had no idea where he was going with this

"Look, just, humor... yourself? I guess?" said Dipper. "You wrote a list of questions for me to ask to you. Ouch, my head just hurts saying it. Just let me ask them, alright?" He waited for her to respond, she nodded. "Okay, which do you like better kitties or puppies. Oh, come on Mabel, I said yes or no questions only, hold on," Dipper muttered to himself. "Do you like puppies better than kitties?" That was a tricky question. Yes, kitties were cuter but puppies, how could you say no to them? She nodded but with a gesture that said she liked them both equally. There was the slightest hint of surprise in Dipper's eyes but he continued.

She listened to each question. A couple times he had to pause to rephrase so that she could nod or shake her head. Each time, he made a tick mark in his book but he didn't comment on her answers. At last, they reached what seemed to be the final set of questions. "Would you put mustard on a turkey sandwich?" obviously yes, "and mananas?" again yes, "And, yuck, peanut butter, really?" She licked her lips, peanut butter went well on everything! Maybe a little honey too! "And honey?" She smiled at being ahead of the question and nodded. That actually sounded really good right now. "I'll never understand your weird food combination obsession thing.

"Anyhow," said Dipper with a cough. He straightened up and so did Mabel. She was excited to hear how she did. "Every question," said Dipper. "You got every question right, even the ones where there was no right answer!" She beamed at him. "So that either means you can read her thoughts, or you really _are_ Mabel." She blew a raspberry at him. "I'm leaning towards the second option... The question remains though, who are you really? Why are you here, how did you get here? And what do you want?"

Dipper paused, "Can you answer any of that?" She thought for a second then gave her 'maybe shrug.' However, it didn't seem like Dipper was expecting an answer, "and what is going to happen to Mabel when you leave, is she just going to reappear in California, or will she be here and still - uh, will we still be fighting?" Again, a shrug. Dipper groaned in frustration and they sat in silence for a while after that.

Cautiously, she put her arm back around her brother and gave him a gentle hug. He leaned against her shoulder and they just sat like that for a long while.

"You know, you remind me a lot of how we were when stuff was simpler. Back when we were thirteen, you remember what that was like?" asked Dipper. She nodded, yes. Yes she did.

"What... what do you think I should do?" he asked her softly. "Do you think we - me and Mabel, my Mabel, I mean - should try and stay together as long as we can, or is college the point where our lives part? Should I give up everything for her? Should I - should I put how I feel about P - about other people aside?" He looked up at her for reassurance, for an answer. And she had an answer. She knew exactly what she wanted to say to him!

"Dipper," she said confidently, then groaned. That wasn't fair! She closed her eyes, willing her words forward, "Dipppppeerrrr, Dipper." GAH this stupid brain and stupid mouth. She just needed it to work for once. Dipper was still watching her.

"Should... should we stay together?" he asked, watching her open and close her mouth, trying to make words. YES! Mabel nodded vigorously. DEFINITELY. She hugged him harder, never wanting to let him go. ABSOLUTELY.

There was no adventure planned for today. In fact, Dipper was hesitant for her to even leave the room because she wasn't even supposed to be here. Her brother spent a fair amount of time trying to get a hold of someone in California but no one was answering the home phone. Both their parents phones kept rolling to voice mail.

Mabel lay on her back on the end of Dipper's bed. She hung her head upside down over the side watching him pace back and forth. He was muttering to himself and kept shooting uncertain glances at her. Finally he stopped and marched over.

"Look, I can't take you just staring at me," said Dipper. He glanced around the room, trying to find something to occupy her. But, of course, none of her things were here. A light-bulb seemed to come on in his head. He pulled something small, flat, black and rectangular up from next to his bed. As he opened it, she realized it was a laptop. He offered it to her. "Look, if you want something to do while I figure out, what we should do with you, why don't you check out our UsTube channel."

She felt her eyes light up. That was something she really wanted to see. Dipper sat next to her once more, having been hesitant to do so up until this point. He typed in his password, which she noticed seemed to be his default 'D1pperisgr3at99'.

"Uh, just the channel though," he said pointedly. She 'pfft'd' at him, it wasn't like she hadn't seen his internet history before, then teased him mercilessly about it ever since. Although, he was a lot older now, maybe she didn't want to stray too far and find something she couldn't unsee. Her body might be sixteen but she wasn't.

The laptop lock screen vanished and Mabel caught the quickest glimpse of an open folder, filled with images. She smiled inwardly at herself. Her brother must have forgotten to close down all his 'personal fun time material' before shutting off his computer.

However, something gave her pause as he quickly scrambled to close the folder, the name, both at the top of the window and and some of the images, had her name. There weren't any thumbnails, so, she had no idea what they were. And she only got the briefest of glances but it had been right there in front of her. 'Mabel' What the hay?

Dipper clicked into the browser for her and it opened to UsTube. It started on a page that declared it was the _MysteryPinesAdventureTwins_ , without spaces. He handed her the laptop as a video started to play.

"This is Mabel!" said the video version of Dipper, looking a year or so younger than he was now. He was pointing at the girl standing beside him, wearing her shooting star sweater. Mabel glanced up, reaffirming the sweater ceiling. She looked back down to find herself wearing a purple sweater with hearts on it that she didn't recognize. Her attention refocused on the video.

"This is Dipper!" said the girl that Mabel recognized to be her younger - older? - self, depending on how you looked at it. She was pointing at younger Dipper, who was wearing his trademark red shirt and blue vest and pine tree hat on his head.

"And we're the Mystery Pines Adventure Twins!" they said together.

"Come with us as we explore the unknown!" said Dipper's voice over. The shot changed to a misty woods, before shifting again into a creepy looking abandon town.

"Hunting for ghosts," continued Mabel's voice. Something flitted by the camera too fast to see. "Trolls!" Two glowing yellow eyes appeared against a black background. "Vampires!" A bat, clearly held up by a rope on a stick bounced across the frame, "I'm still hoping we find vampires."

"And all sorts of other mysteries and oddities!" chimed in Dipper. "Stay a while, look around! And be sure to Like, Share, Subscribe, Suggest, Comment, Reblog, Hashtag, Favorite, Bookmark and Watch again!"

Both twins reappeared on screen along with several dozen buttons around them. Mabel felt slightly confused and overwhelmed.

"That's the intro video," commented Dipper. "It's for people to get a little taste of what we're like. The other videos are, well, more about stuff. Scroll down, find one you like."

Mabel scrolled down and clicked the very first video in the list of recently uploaded. The page changed and it began to play.

"Adventure 16-22," said Mabel's voice from off camera. No, this was Bel's voice, Mabel reminded herself. "The mystery of my brother picking his nose!" Mabel felt a fit of giggles building up inside her. She watched the mostly guerrilla style camera work of her other self secretly filming her brother, picking his nose.

"Oh come on Mabel, you promised you weren't going to upload that one," groaned Dipper from beside her. He tried to yank the laptop away, but she easily kept it out of his reach and stuck her tongue out at him. The camera changed back to her face.

"What does he do with it? No one knows, hehe, nose. But we're about to find out!" It switched back to Dipper, who was looking at the thing on the end of his finger, trying to decide what to do, at last he flicked it away. "EWWWW! DIPPER, GROSS!" shouted Bel. He suddenly looked up, just noticing her, panic in his eyes.

"Mabel! You didn't see anything, I didn't... give me that camera!" shouted Dipper, "Don't you dare upload this!" He ran towards her and the picture cut out.

"In conclusion," said Bel reappearing with the camera close to her face. There seemed to be shirts or something hanging behind her. "Dipperie-dos nose gems appear to vanish into the unknown!"

"I'll make you vanish into the unknown if you upload that video!" shouted Dipper from the other side of the door that Bel was clearly holding closed with her body weight.

"That concludes Adventure 16-22, this is Dipper and," said Bel.

"I'm not doing the bit! Don't publish this!" cried Dipper.

"Signing off! See you next adventure!" shouted Bel. And the video ended with her beaming into the camera. Mabel was beaming herself. That... that had been pretty good. And apparently, holy moly, other people thought so too! Three and a half million views! And a lot of approves! Also a lot of disapproves. Mabel frowned at that, who would disapprove her videos.

She was just about to scroll down and read some of the comments. However, Dipper snatched the laptop out of her grasp.

"I can't believe she did that to me!" said Dipper angrily. "She put it up today! I've got to take it down!" His fingers began to move over the keyboard, but Mabel grabbed both his hands, stopping him. "Mabel let go!" She pointed to the views and he stopped, his eyes widening. "Wait, not three thousand, that's, that's three million?" Dipper seemed at a loss for words.

Her brother fell into some kind of comatose state. Either three million views had broken his brain, or the video of him picking his nose seen by three million viewers had destroyed him.

Mabel set the laptop aside, and poked him. He didn't respond. She booped him in the nose. Still he sat motionless. Drastic measures were needed here. She leaned in super close to the side of his face, so that her nose was almost touching his cheek. She licked him, from fuzzy jaw line to just below the eye.

"EEWWW MABEL!" cried Dipper, finally snapped out of whatever had happened to him. "Twice! Twice you've done that to me! I never thought I would prefer you to go back to punching so badly!" She smiled at him, he wiped the side of his face with his shirt. "Seriously…" he muttered. His eyes widened again. "Mabel, that video had three million views on it! That's more than all our other videos combine! You realize what this means right? We have our first viral video… of me… picking my nose…" He looked a little unhappy with her but she shrugged and stuck out her tongue.

Mabel picked the laptop back up, indicating that she wanted to watch more and that he should watch with her. Dipper only seemed to be able to nod.

With a few clicks she was back on their channel. Mabel browsed for other videos to was a plethora of stuff, most with her or Dipper's face on them instead of title cards. The ones on this page seemed to be in several categories. There was _Adventures with Mabel!_ Videos that had names like _Cats in Top Hats!_ , and _Finger Painting Everything_! And most importantly of all _Finger Painting Cats in Top Hats on Everything!_

Most of the videos had lots of extra exclamation points in their titles, indicating, at least in her mind, how awesome they were. She noticed none of them had three million views (or more than a hundred in most cases). That made her frown a little. Still, a hundred was nothing to sneeze at.

There were other videos too. Some were clearly Dipper's with titles like, a _Deeper Look Into the Unexplained_ , and review of the _Caper of the Capers_. And of course, making up most of the videos on their channel was Mystery Pines Adventure Twins. These were all labeled with that funny code, 15-something or, 14-something else. Mabel wasn't sure what it meant but a few of them sounded super interesting. They also by far had the most views, in the thousands on average and up into the hundreds of thousands on some.

She clicked on one labeled Adventure 14-35: _Independent Time Pendant_. It started with an intro from Dipper, talking about a strange pendant he had in his hands. He declared it to be a pendant capable of traveling through time. While it didn't appear to do that, it did swing faster or slower on its own. Not a super exciting video. She could see why it didn't have a lot of views.

She browsed some more and found the video marked Adventure 15-88 and saw the half million views on it. _The Waterfall Loop Cave._ Mabel pressed play and watched as she and her brother explored the waterfall cave. The one they had been in, at least from her perspective, yesterday.

Much to her surprise, she was talking in the video. She looked at Dipper in confusion.

"You, other you, I mean, Original Mabel, did voice over for it. A lot of the audio didn't come out, and people expect us both to be talking in our videos, about the two of us, having adventures together," stressed Dipper. She shrugged, that made sense, in a strange way. She wondered what Bel had thought about seeing herself on camera but not remembering doing any of it. Not for the first time, she wished she could talk to herself somehow.

She also noticed that the ceiling in the video looked just like a normal cave ceiling. It wasn't like the ceiling above her right now which - with a quick glance up to re-confirm - was sweater town wrapped above her.

She returned her focus to the video. It was pretty well edited. The pacing was fast, the thrill of discovery building in every shot. And it was over before she even knew it, with the exciting climax of them bursting out of the cave. Dipper was declaring they were back where they had started, before showing that the exit they had come out of had vanished. It didn't feel like the adventure she'd had at all, which had been slow and intimate and with more ceilings made of sweaters. She guessed that was the magic of editing though.

Mabel started to scroll down into the comments again. It was Dipper's turn to put his hands over hers and stop her.

"You, uh, you probably don't want to read the comments," he said. She noticed his face turn slightly red. She gave him a puzzled look. "UsTubers are all pervs and trolls. It's either just mean things or… trust me, you don't want to read them." Mabel rolled her eyes and shooed her brother's hands off. She was a big girl, how bad could - She didn't even make it past the first one.

 _She totally isn't wearing a bra! Go to 3:55 and you can see her nipples!_

Mabel felt her face go red. Below there were several replies, each more vulgar than the previous one. That was only some of them, Mabel noticed this one comment had over three hundred replies alone. And twice as many up votes.

She closed the laptop. Yep, that was enough of the internet for a lifetime.

"I did try to warn you," said Dipper, pulling the laptop out of her hands. "You - Original Mabel, has comments hidden. Also," and Dipper seemed to falter here. He muttered something under his breath. Mabel gave him a puzzled look. Dipper sighed. "She asked me to remind you not to take your bra off in public." There was a long awkward pause between them then Mabel began to laugh. Dipper smiled at her, not really seeming to know what else to say.

They spent the rest of the day up in the room, moving from one normal activity to another. It wasn't a day filled with high adventure or excitement, it was just a day filled with her brother. And that was perfectly fine.

Currently they were playing a card game - Mabel wasn't sure which one - but she kept winning at it, so, what did it matter. She beamed again as she laid her cards out on the floor. Dipper groaned.

"How do you keep doing that?" he asked in frustration. "I don't think you even know what game we're playing!" Mabel just smiled, scooping up the candy they had decided to use as currency. She was glad that she was winning too, she was starting to get pretty hungry and that candy was making her mouth water slightly.

"Hey dude!" came Soos' voice from downstairs. "Dinner is ready!" Mabel started to get up, but, Dipper put a hand on her knee and stopped her.

"They, uh, don't know you're here, remember?" said Dipper. Mabel shrugged as if to say, 'so what?' But Dipper frowned. "Look, just wait here, I'll grab a plate to go, tell them I'm working on something important, which I am, and be right back, okay?" Mabel shrugged again, then nodded. She guessed that was acceptable. "Great, I'll be back in just a minute. Wait here."

The way he said it, the way he looked at her, made Mabel feel that same uncomfortable way from earlier, like he didn't trust her. She realized that, as he was backing out the door, watching her with every step, he didn't trust her. At first she felt a little hurt by this. They had always trusted each other, how could they not. But the more her thoughts lingered on it, the more sense it made.

Dipper, this Dipper in this place, whatever it really was, didn't know her. Just like she didn't really know him. She eyed his laptop still sitting on the bed. Maybe she really should watch more of their videos, see what they were really like in this place.

 _Just, don't read the comments_ , she thought to herself. She shivered.

However, there wasn't a lot of time for her to consider it as Dipper reappeared with food in hand. They shared the meal of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and peas. Dipper had also brought along two cans of Pitt soda for them. Mabel briefly wondered if anyone had asked why he had two cans.

After dinner Dipper opened his laptop once more. Mabel was still feeling weary of the internet but her brother launched ComFlix, a movie streaming service. Before she could ask what they were going to watch, not that she actually could have anyhow, Dipper cued up the movie. _High School Boy SingSong Two: The Reschooling_. Mabel let out a delighted squeal. She thought her brother hated this movie! No, she knew her brother hated this movie! She looked at Dipper in confusion but he just smiled at her and shrugged.

They cuddled up on the floor, leaning against his bed and watching the extremely cheesy, filled with pop songs, badly written, musical adventure. Mabel enjoyed every minute of it, even if she couldn't sing along to any of the super catchy songs. It wasn't so much the movie she enjoyed though. It was the fact she was watching it with her brother, that he had picked it for her. That he was enduring the forced relationship between new girl Kristina and super hot man meat Keven.

At last the movie ended and Mabel let out a huge yawn. Dipper closed the application and powered down his laptop. He gave his tired sister a squeeze.

"We should get ready for bed. You want to use the bathroom first?" asked Dipper. Mabel sat upright, he never asked her that! There were rules against it! They had to, THEY HAD TO, rock paper scissors for it!

With a practiced hand she held up her closed fist. Dipper raised an eyebrow.

"Mabel, we haven't done that in years…" said Dipper. She looked determinedly at him. It was tradition, one that had served them well. She insistently beat her hand against her open palm. "Alright, if that's what you want."

He raised his own fist. Together they lightly tapped their bottom hand three times than cast their rolls. Both Scissors. They cast again. Both Rock. They cast again. Dipper threw Scissors but Mabel did paper. She could see his face light up.

"I won?" he asked in confusion, he almost never won at it. "I won!" he cried excitedly, then he calmed down. "I mean, look, I really don't mind if you go first." Mabel started to nod but then shook her head, not actually sure what her answer was supposed to be. He won fair and square, he got the bathroom first.

"Was, that a yes?" he asked. Mabel shook her head. "You're really letting me go first?" Mabel nodded. "You sure, I mean, I don't mind. We don't have to follow the rules. I know you like to take long showers, I don't mind waiting." Mabel booped him on the nose then held out her arms in a gesture of 'after you.' "Alright, I'll be back in a bit."

Mabel watched him gather up his nightwear, only slightly aware that without her things here, she didn't have any clothing to change into. A problem she would solve when she got to it. The moment Dipper was out the door, she grabbed up his laptop and powered it back on. Her hands hovered over the keyboard. She really shouldn't be doing this. This was a huge invasion of his privacy. But that folder with her name on it… she had to see.

And of course, invading other people's personal lives was what she did best. Her fingers flew across the keys and a moment later the computer unlocked. She paused, listening for the sounds of returning footsteps beyond the door. If she was lucky, she would have ten, maybe fifteen minutes to snoop around.

It wasn't hard to find the folder, it was right on his nearly spotless desktop, right in the middle in fact. It's Label read 'Mabel.' She hovered over it, debating if this was really such a good idea. What if she stumbled on something really, really bad.

Was there anything her brother could do that would really be enough for her to hate him? To never forgive him? Mabel didn't think so. Her hand clicked and the folder opened. It contained thousands of pictures, with dates going back years and years. She clicked one at random and the image viewer launched. She felt a sort of sad joy flitted through her as a perfectly normal picture of herself appeared on the screen.

The Mabel in the image was waving and smiling, out some place in the woods carrying the piggyback-backpack. She clicked forward, her again, gluing something together on the floor. She kept clicking next. They were all of her, all smiling, all happy. Sometimes Dipper was in the pictures too, sometimes one of their Uncles or Soos, sometimes all of them. But every picture contained her.

She suddenly realized why he had this open. Dipper missed her. This was like her scrapbook, a way to look back on happier times and memories of the person most important to him in the entire world.

She missed him. Oh how she missed him! She missed him so much it hurt. Drops of water splashed onto her arms and Mabel realized that she was crying. She touched her face to find large wet trails along her cheeks.

"Dipper," she moaned softly, her hand still clicking through the images of her. "Dipper, Dipper, Dipper, Dipper!" Faster and faster she clicked. The screen went dark. The world went dark.


	5. Chapter 5 - The Wall

Sweater Town

Chapter 5 – The Wall

By Starwin

* * *

Mabel blinked, the dream already slipping away from her thoughts. She struggled to hold onto its fading remnants. She had been back in Gravity Falls again, just like all the other dreams. Except, she wasn't supposed to have been there. And - and there had been an argument about - about school? It was all becoming fuzzy now. If only that stupid dream journal idea had worked! Not being able to write anything but her brother's name was so, so - BLARGH!

Pulling her covers up over her head she hid beneath them. She didn't want to get out of bed today. She wanted to stay here forever. She wanted to dip back down into her dreams. Her hand slid across her chest, feeling for the sweater that could whisk her into her fantasy world. But it wasn't there!

Panic flared up inside her and she sprang upright, covers slipping off and head protesting the sudden motion. She was still in the clothing she had been wearing yesterday but her sweater was gone! She must have wiggled out of it during the night or something. Frantically, she looked around for it and located it fairly quickly. It was hanging over the edge of her bed. She snatched it up and held it by the sleeves, looking at the garment. She had definitely fallen asleep in it. Maybe it had just been too hot and she had tugged it off during the night?

She frowned as she looked it over. The hole in the sleeve was still there, as was the second rip in the shoulder. Now there was a new tear, this one along the the bottom hem. It was smaller than the other two but this was an actual tear! If she pulled at it (she didn't), it would be possible to easily make it bigger and bigger until she tore the whole front open!.

Her active sleeping might just be far too rough on it. She had to stop falling asleep in it. But, of course if she did that, would she stop returning to sweater town? Sweater town kind of needed a sweater to work. Maybe another sweater would do?

No. She knew it wouldn't. It was like knowing she had to be above water to breathe. She just knew it.

Mabel placed the sweater over the headboard of her bed so that she could examine at it without touching it. Not for the first time now she questioned if any of what was happening to her was real. Not just sweater town but everything. Her inability to speak, her life falling to pieces, the loss of her brother.

What was real anyhow? It was a question she had spent way more time thinking about than most people. Fantasy had always been a big part of her life, even before whatever was going on now. And long before they had ever gone to Gravity Falls. It had always been so easy to pretend whatever she wanted.

"Mabel, are you awake?" came her mother's voice from the door. Mabel frowned as she was dragged out of her thoughts. She wasn't going to respond. Her mother opened the door and came in anyhow. Mabel hated when she did that. "Good, you're up. Get dressed, there's breakfast downstairs for you, then you have another doctor's appointment today."

Mabel turned her head to give her mother an incredulous look. She had to be flipping kidding! Another one! Her mom hadn't even bothered to tell her about it! She didn't ever ask what Mabel wanted. It was so typical! Mabel looked away, a frown across her face before her head was even turned. The reaction was not lost.

"Look, we're worried about you," continued her mother, in a tone more of, 'this is not a debate young lady,' than 'we're worried about you.' Mabel looked back at her mother and stuck out her tongue. She was not going anywhere today. "Mabel Pines, you get up and get dressed right now!" said her mother, the barest hint of anger in her voice.

There it was. There was the attitude Mabel hated so much, the one where her mother treated her like a little girl instead of the sixteen-year-old that she - Mabel's thoughts cut off, no, that was a dream. She was thirteen. And darn it! She was going to be a stubborn thirteen-year-old!

She ducked under her covers, pulling them over her head. She was not going out today. She was not going to see another doctor who probably wanted to poke her or ask questions she couldn't answer. She was not getting out of bed for anything! Her bladder disagreed and she angrily snarled at it. The organ responded that maybe it could wait a little longer.

Mabel half expected that the next words out of her mother's mouth were going to be angry shouts. She would demand that Mabel do what she was told, because she was her mother! Or maybe, her mom would just walk over and drag her out of bed, force her into clothes and carry her off no matter what she wanted.

There was the soft bounce of someone sitting beside her. A warm, gentle arm embraced the girl under the sheets and pulled her into a reassuring hug that Mabel couldn't help but let herself fall into.

"I know it's scary," whispered her mother. "And I know things are difficult for you right now. But your father and I are worried about you, Mabel. We-" she stopped, rephrasing whatever she had been about to say. "We want to make sure that everything's okay. Please come downstairs and have breakfast? I made your favorite, strawberry pancakes, topped with whipped cream."

Oh well that was just unfair! Low and dirty!

Mabel poked her head out of her sheets, the smallest of smiles on her face. Her mother kissed her on the forehead.

"I'll see you downstairs?" asked her mom. Mabel nodded. Her mother smiled back.

Giving her torn sweater one last glance and wishing she could just escape back into her dreams. Mabel let out a sigh. She got dressed, picking out a green and pink strawberry sweater for today. It was scratch and sniff and smelled like strawberries! Or, well it had smelled like strawberries, long ago, now it just smelled like whatever clothing smelled like. Fabric softener?

She continued to let her thoughts wander all around as she visited the bathroom, brushed her teeth, her hair and splashed some water on her face. By the time she was making her way down stairs, her thoughts had slid into wondering if she could make Waddles smell like strawberries somehow. The smell of hot strawberry jam hit her nose.

There was, as promised, hot strawberry pancakes waiting for her. She practically ran to her seat, almost foregoing the knife and fork and just shoving them into her face. She might have, if she hadn't remembered that they were leaving right after breakfast to go see another doctor. That made the food seem a little less appealing.

Her father smiled at her from the end of the table, he was reading on his tablet, sipping from a cup of coffee. "Good to see you, kiddo," said her dad, setting down the device. She could see a news article on it, something about politics, bla. Mabel smiled back at him as best she could around a mouth full of pancake. There was also fresh squeezed orange juice for her too, which she used to wash down the food clogging her mouth. "We know all of this has been hard on you," continued her father. Mabel looked back down at her food. This was not a conversation she was feeling up to right now.

"It's been -" her father's voice broke like she had never heard it do before. It was much like how Dipper's voice often broke when he was nervous, except, this, wasn't cute. This was one of the most heart wrenching sounds she had ever heard in her life. "It's been extremely difficult for your mother and I as well." Finished her father, his eyes fell on her. "We've hardly seen you for the past few days. You've hardly left your room. We are worried about you. And we just want to make sure everything's okay.

"I know this can be scary, but we'll be there with you. We'll always be here for you." Mabel nodded at her food, still not looking at her dad. He put a strong hand on her shoulder and gave her a squeeze. He had meant it all to be comforting. But all his words had done - she looked up at the empty, unset place across the table from her - was remind her that her brother was gone.

* * *

The drive to the medical center didn't take very long. Mabel once again sat in back, neither of her parents had offered to let her sit up front but she didn't care. She was glad to be alone in back. No. Glad was the wrong word. Horrified? Angry? Those were closer, still not what she wanted. Her eyes kept drifting to the empty backseat on the driver side. The spot Dipper took whenever all four of them were in the car together.

When they arrived, her parents checked in and they waited for whatever appointment they had made for her. As much as they claimed to have her best interests at heart, they certainly hadn't seen fit to talk to her about it.

They waited in the lobby, both parents on their smartphones and Mabel sitting between them wringing her hands. This was a proper medical place this time, not like yesterday with Rebecca where it had felt like a much more casual setting. Mabel was not a big fan of hospitals. It's not that she didn't like the buildings or distrust the work that the doctors did. It was more how they felt. That silent air, the strange sterility of everything. It was like this was where fun came to die. Where people came to die.

She wished she hadn't had that last thought. She really didn't want to be here. She especially didn't want to be thinking about what had happened to - to - Dipper. Or how he - that he... Her hand beat the tears before they could really get going. She wanted to get out of here!

Out wasn't the direction she was headed though. They hadn't been waiting more than ten minutes before someone called her name. Her parents came with.

They were led through a maze of hallways until they reached a small room. The nurse that had called her name led Mabel and her parents inside. She instructed Mabel to sit on the raised bed/chair thingy. The woman looked at the clipboard she had brought with her and smiled at the young girl.

"Hello Mabel," said the woman, "I'm Nurse Oliva. It looks like we will be doing an MRI on you today, have you ever had an MRI before, sweetie?" Mabel shook her head. The term sounded familiar but she wasn't exactly sure what it was. "Don't worry, it might look big and scary but you won't feel a thing, I promise.

"We just have to do some preliminary setup and when the room's ready, I can take you over, okay?" Again Mabel nodded, the nurse seemed to take this as her still being scared or something because she said. "There's no need to worry. It'll be fine." She smiled, obviously wanting Mabel to smile at her in return. It wasn't a genuine smile, but Mabel managed to open her mouth in the faintest approximation of a grin.

"Oh, I see you have braces!" said the nurse as she started to busy herself with something. The woman wrapped one of those inflatable things around Mabel's upper arm and began to pump it up. "Is that why you're worried? Well, there's no need to fret, it'll be fine." That was the first distressing thing Mabel had actually heard, why wouldn't braces be fine? Why would she even say that?

The nurse did a few other quick tests, then gave her a hospital gown to change into. The nurse left so Mabel could change but her parents stayed and simply looked away. Mabel didn't really care. She turned her back to her parents and changed into the backless gown. She wasn't a big fan of the thing. It didn't even smell like fabric softener, just disinfectant. Yuck. Any other time she might have made a game of it or even stickerfied the thing. At the moment, she just wanted to get it over with and go home.

The nurse returned ten minutes later, knocking first to ask if she was ready. It had taken Mabel less than thirty seconds to change, so of course she was ready.

Back into the maze of hallways, up a few floors in an elevator and down more halls until they stopped at a very large room. The room also had a very big machine in it. Mabel had seen machines like it before, in crime dramas and doctor shows. She couldn't remember what it was called exactly (the nurse had said M-ER-Pie? or something, she hadn't really been listening) but Mabel knew it took pictures inside your head. She also remembered the part about removing metal objects and her tongue ran nervously across her braces. That's why the nurse had said something about her braces.

A strange smile crossed over Mabel's lips. If they looked inside her head, would they get pictures of sweater town? Of Dipper running around inside her head, wondering where she had gone? Nah, she didn't have a sweater on at the moment, just this stupid gown thingy. At least her parents had been able to bring her clothing with, so she could change back after.

A different person led Mabel into the room, the nurse said he was a technician or something, but again, Mabel wasn't really listening. She was instead focused on the big round machine she was being led to. Her parent's didn't come into the big room with her, they were back in some kind of closed off viewing booth, separated by a thick glass wall..

Once the door closed behind them the room became unnaturally silent, as if the machine was pulling all sound out of the air. Her breathing, her footsteps, even the unnatural rapid beating of her heart all became oddly quiet as she approached the thing. It looked like a big, round, round-thingie, with a hole in the center. There was also a flat bed at its front. The technician instructed her to climb onto and lay face up on it. It wasn't super comfortable.

"Try and stay as still as possible please, there will be a spot inside that I want you to look directly at, alright?" instructed the man. Mabel nodded. He pushed something on the side of the thing and with a soft whine of electric motors the bed began to roll slowly into the machine.

For the first few seconds everything was fine, then it was practically claustrophobic. It felt like the machine was pressing down on her, like it was going to crush her. She wanted to push herself out. A voice came on over an intercom. It was the technician.

"Just relax, take deep breaths, look at the little note above you," he said. Mabel looked at the note. It was not really reassuring. It simply said, 'keep still and look here.' Seriously, this place needed stickers.

The eerie silence that had been so prevalent before was abruptly shattered as the machine came to life. It sounded like giant rocks tumbling around in a dryer or something. It was a very unpleasant, very loud, noise that caused Mabel to jump slightly the first time she heard it. Then the machine when quiet again.

This process happened over and over and for the first five or so minutes Mabel was kind of okay with it. It wasn't someone pushing needles in her arm, so, that was something at least. However, laying completely still, something she never did, not even in her sleep, and listening to that awful clunking noise every ten or so seconds, was starting to grate on her.

After almost twenty minutes of it, Mabel was finding it extremely hard to not move. How long was this thing going to take and why was she even doing it? Just as she was about to push herself out, the bed started to move, sliding out of the machine.

Mabel started to sit up but the voice echoed over the intercom. "Hold on just a second." A moment later the technician was back in the room and standing beside her. Mabel frowned at him. "We're getting some weird interference. Oliva said you have braces, can you open your mouth for me?" Mabel did as instructed and he looked at her teeth, "Odd, those shouldn't be large enough to be causing an issue. Can I have you roll over onto your stomach, please?"

Mabel shrugged her 'whatever' shrug and rolled onto her side, instantly regretting the action. The stupid hospital gown that didn't have any back came open as she got to her stomach. She had at least been able to keep her underwear on but she still felt exposed. Her hands scrambled back and pulled at the fabric trying to cover her rear.

At last she managed to get it good enough, then laid her hands flat on either side of her. Being face down was even more uncomfortable and now totally embarrassing. Getting naked in her fantasy world had been one thing. Being exposed like this in real life felt awful!

The bed began to move again and the technician reminded her to stay as still as possible. Face down into the bed, she couldn't really see anything this time but she could feel the invisible pressure as she slid into the machine.

After what felt like hours but was most likely much shorter, the bed began to move again and the voice told her that they were all done. Her parents brought Mabel her clothing. She was permitted to use a curtain at the side of the room to get changed. Fabric softener never smelled so good as she inhaled the scent of her sweater deeply. She was more than thrilled to finally be leaving. The nurse informed them they would have the results in a few days and to expect a call.

Mabel almost sprinted back to their car, eager to get home and back into her fantasy world.

* * *

The moment they got home Mabel rushed upstairs to her room. She pulled the now slightly beat up and ripped sweater over her head, closed her eyes and wished it all away. She remained right where she was. Mabel took a deep breath, readying herself for what she knew must come next. She recalled the sidewalk, the conversation she had been having with her brother. Then she brought forward the memory of the horrible, awful moment when her life had been destroyed and she had lost Dipper.

There was no falling this time. Instead, her eyes just snapped open and Mabel found herself once more in her small camp bed in the Mystery Shack. Her legs were bunched up uncomfortably and when she tried to stretch them she found that they hung off the end of her mattress. She was too big for the bed. A bed that she realized also had sheets!

She rolled over and looked at the wall beside her bed, it had posters once more. Yes, she was really back in Gravity Falls this year. Already filling with hope and anticipation, she rolled the other way and found the other bed in the room. In the low light, all she could see was his silhouette under the blankets but he was there. Dipper was here too, still fast asleep in his own too small bed across the way.

Mabel let out a sigh. She had known they would work through it, they always did. The fact they were both back, that they were sharing a room once more over the summer meant that everything had worked out. She smiled, glad that Bel had mended the relationship with her brother. She couldn't even imagine coming back and not finding him here.

Mabel frowned. She didn't need to imagine. She was living that life when she was awake.

Her frown deepened as she rolled onto her back. Her eyes found the ceiling above, or rather, the spiraling folds of the sweater that always lingered above her, even when they had been inside that cave. She could clearly see the hole in the shoulder now and the rip at the hem. Stranger still, she could see sunlight pouring in through the gaps.

Mabel rolled out of bed and tiptoed over to the window. It was dark outside but her perfectly lit sweater filled the sky instead of stars. She looked at the hole in the shoulder, up where the ceiling should have been above her. Than she slowly moved her face towards the window. As she did, the sweater ceiling and the sky outside seemed to stay put. It was like there wasn't a ceiling at all, like she was looking between the same thing in two places. Which, if that was true, Mabel found the rip in the hem of the sweater, meant that the rip was off in that direction. Her eyes looked right at the wall behind her bed.

She knew what she wanted to do today. Dipper had decided how to spend the previous days but she was going to pick their activity today. She checked that her brother was still fast asleep. The clock said it was 6 A.M., so, she had hours before he would really be awake.

As quietly as she could, she found her piggyback-backpack and began to pack for a day of travel. It was sort of odd. She seemed to have a lot more clothing here than usual. In fact, it was like her whole wardrobe had been packed up and moved here. She didn't spend a lot more time worrying about the surprising number of her belongings, maybe she had just left a lot of stuff here over the years?

When she was satisfied with her selections, she began to pack her brother's day pack (she even added a few travel stickers to the outside, it was sorely lacking in stickers). She was surprised to find that Dipper had just as much, if not more stuff, here as well. Had they like moved to the Mystery Shack or something? She would have to ask. Mabel rolled her eyes. Yeah, 'ask,' that was a good one.

Bags ready to go, the mystery of the extra clothing left behind, Mabel headed downstairs to the kitchen. She raided the refrigerator, finding everything she would need and crafted lunches for the trail.

She returned with lunches ready around seven-ish to find her brother's position in bed changed but not awake. She rolled her eyes as she put each lunch into their respective packs.

She changed quickly or, rather tried to. The first part of getting dressed had been what she expected until she had reached the bra part. She had quite the selection of colors and shapes. A part of her knew that she had to pick them like sweaters, based on her mood and goals. Another part of her just wanted to skip over putting one on. And still another part of her reminded Mabel of the mess that had been last time she had neglected the undergarment.

After far too much debating, when she realized she had been standing in the room in just her underwear for a good ten minutes, she finally selected a simple purple sports bra. She had picked it because it looked like the simplest choice (and she was really feeling purple). What she hadn't anticipated though was how comfortable it turned out to be.

Her previous experience with the body hugging undergarment had been unpleasant to say the least. It had pinched her when she moved and crushed her chest in a slightly painful way. This however, while it did press against her wasn't that bad. In fact, she moved around a little, shaking her chest, this made her feel like she normally did. It was almost like she didn't have breasts hanging off her at all.

The rest of her outfit came together much faster. A simple purple undershirt. A purple sweater with a multi colored butterfly on it. A purple skirt and purple socks and to top it all off, a purple hair band. She had almost been tempted by the yellow hair band with kitty ears, but she would have had to change her whole outfit around it. Next time. She was in a purple mood today.

Once she was dressed, she turned to the next challenge. What was the best way to wake her slumbering brother?

There was the usual method of simply shaking him awake. Too easy. She could try tickling him into consciousness. No, she didn't want to put him in a bad mood. There might still be an air horn in the closet (she checked, there was), but that might wake the whole house and definitely would put him in a bad mood.

She blushed as she considered kissing his cheek like a sleeping prince. Nope. She wasn't doing that one. The kissing thing, even on the cheek had been tabooed for her (although she had managed to get away with a it a few times) for years now! She had of course done it the first day she had arrived but that was extenuating circumstances.

At last, she chose the fairly straightforward, not creepy at all, method of kneeling right next to his bed. She hovered an inch or so away from him, and whispered Dipper's name over and over, slightly increasing the volume every time. She didn't get to shouting but she wasn't far off when her brother was finally startled awake. He didn't look super happy to be awake. He didn't look super awake either if she was being honest.

"Mabel, what the heck?" asked Dipper groggily. He looked at the watch on his wrist. Yep, he was still sleeping with that watch. "It's not even seven thirty!" He started to lay back down but Mabel grabbed his arm, almost pulling him out of his bed. "No, Mabel, it's too early, let me go back to sleep."

She didn't heed his protests and succeeded in dragging him out of bed and down the hall where she practically shoved him into the bathroom. When he returned to the room, he was still in his pajamas, Mabel hadn't given him time to grab his clothes. He looked a little more awake than he had. Not a lot more awake.

"Mabel," Dipper complained, with a yawn. "Why are we up so early? The sun's barely up." Mabel of course didn't answer, she just smiled her great big beaming huge smile at him, before shoving his clothes and his backpack into his arms. "Wait, you packed my stuff?" He looked slightly confused. Then raised an eyebrow at her. "Where are we going?" She didn't answer, instead just smiling at him and wiggling her eyebrows in a sort of mocking gesture of his confused look.

Before he could ask again however, she headed off to the bathroom with a little skip in her step. She closed the door behind her so he could change.

This was the best and greatest plan she'd ever had. Okay, maybe 'ever' was a bit much. She'd had some really good plans. Like the time she had brushed her teeth and hair at the same time, saving valuable brushing time. Mixing the two up had been only a minor miscalculation on her part. In any case, this was still a good plan. If she couldn't tell Dipper about the sweater sky thingy, she was going to show him! She caught herself with toothbrush and comb both headed to the wrong spots as she looked in the bathroom mirror. Quickly she corrected the problem. This was a great plan.

Dipper was already waiting by the front door, lacing up his shoes as she came down the stairs. Her piggyback-backpack slung over her shoulder. Dipper gave her an uncertain look before asking, "Uh, just where are we going?" She stretched out her arms as if to say 'out there! Into the unknown.' Dipper raised an eyebrow, "Okay… wait, Other Mabel?"

She winced at the name. That was so awful. They really hadn't come up with anything better for her? She nodded. Dipper rolled his eyes before pressing his palms to them and groaning.

"Of course it's you! Of course," he muttered. "I should have known." She plopped into her boots, not really made for hiking but they would do the trick, she hoped. "Alright, fine." He checked his watch again. "As long as we're back by seven, I'm doing some research with Great Uncle Ford tonight, and we still need to edit yesterday's video… although, I think I'll just wait for Mabel, uh, my Mabel to do that."

She smiled at him. Hopefully they would be back by seven. That gave them almost twelve hours to make this trip. They would either reach where they were going by then, or not at all. She hurried her brother out the front door, ignoring his protests and took the lead. Being outside she couldn't really see the direction she had in mind, but she was pretty sure she was going the right way.

They began to walk side-by-side in silence, which wasn't her choice. Not the side-by-side thing. She loved that, in fact, she wished she could take hold of her brother's hand and swing his arm around and skip. But, she felt strange doing that. She couldn't explain why.

It had never felt strange before. He didn't like holding hands and never in public, 'Stop embarrassing me,' he would say, but there were a few times where he had been fine with it, when he needed the comfort and confirmation of her hand. Maybe he would be fine with it now?

She looked longingly as his hand, currently clasping the straps of his backpack. Yeah. Too weird she decided. If there was a chance later on she would go for it, but not right now. If she wasn't feeling it, there was no way Dipper would be comfortable with it.

In any case, it was the silence she couldn't stand. Sure, birds were chittering away and there was the rustle to the trees above them and the soft pads of their feet on the dirt, but it wasn't the same. If they couldn't have a conversation, she would have at least preferred to start singing something, but, well, that currently wasn't an option. After the first hour of hiking, she discovered she could at least hum. So she started doing that, making up the music as she went.

Every now and then she cast a glance sideways to her brother, trying to read his expression. If the humming annoyed him, he was hiding it well. She changed the tune to something more familiar, to one of her brother's favorite songs by an obscure Icelandic band. Dipper's eyes swiveled to her in the third verse and for a second she thought he was going to ask her to stop but much to her surprise and amazement he started to sing along.

"Disco girl! Coming through, That girl is you! Ooh Ooohhh!" sang Dipper, only slightly off key. They went another verse or so but Mabel had to stop as a fit of the giggles overtook her. Dipper smiled in an embarrassed sort of way, then his face fell and her giggles quickly subsided. "I miss you Mabes. Every time this happens... You're here," he said, taking her hand and squeezing it. A little part of her heart fluttered at the touch, waiting had totally been worth it. "Physically here, but, I mean..." she nodded.

"Dipper," she whispered, then looked down at her feet.

"Yeah, that," said Dipper. "I hope whatever we are heading towards is going to help you somehow," said Dipper. He seemed to realize at last he was holding her hand. He released it, taking the straps of his backpack again. She nodded, slowly, with a look of uncertainty on her face.

They stopped for lunch by the edge of a small stream. She had been about to fill her water bottle right from the flow, but Dipper stopped her, his face filled with panic.

"You can't fill right out of the stream!" he exclaimed. "It's full of bacteria and giardia!" She gave him a quizzical look as if to say, 'what now?' Dipper sighed. "Mabel, deers pee in it!" She recoiled from the water. "It's alright, I should have a filter in my bag."

He fished out a blue pump thing. Putting a long tube down into the stream and attaching the pump to her water bottle, he began to move the handle up and down in a slow steady rhythm. Clear water began to re-fill her bottle. Even with the filter though, 'deer pee' stuck in her brain. She was only going to drink out of it if she was really, really, really thirsty.

That moment came some minutes later when she bit into her sandwich creation. Mushroom, pineapple, tomato, cheese and peanut butter. It wasn't bad. That would have been an understatement. It was horrible. She had spat it out and flung the horrid creation to the ground before stomping on it. If she could have shouted for it to die, she would have. He gave her a confused look, then looked at the remains of the sandwich and mouthed, "Oh- ewww. See, peanut butter does not go on everything, Mabel."

She took a long swig from her refilled water bottle, before remembering it was most likely deer pee, and spitting it out. He seemed only more confused than before but came over to comfort his sister. She, however was completely incoherent, because, that's how she currently was. He tried to piece together what was going on with her while she unhelpfully described the problem in detail to him, "Dipper! Dipper, Dip, Dipper Dip-per! Dippeerrrrrrrrr!"

Dipper nodded as if he had understood. "Yeah, I have no idea what you're trying to say," he said after a moment. "Want half my of sandwich?" She nodded, with a slight sniffle. They ate the rest of Dippers sandwich, which was delicious and Mabel silently vowed to taste her next creation ahead of packing it, rather than to be surprised at the end.

Once lunch was over they were back on the trail, but Dipper looked slightly more nervous than he had before lunch. Mabel gave him a gentle elbow as they walked and he seemed to realize she was there, snapping out of whatever thought he had been having. At first he didn't answer, but she poked him in the cheek to get his attention again, "Dipper!"

"Ouch, what?" asked Dipper, rubbing his cheek. She gave him a long stare as if to say, that's what I was going to ask. He seemed to understand. He rubbed the back of his neck, clearly not comfortable. "Look, Mabel, this thing's important to you right?" She raised an eyebrow. "The thing we're heading towards, wherever you're taking us. It's important, right?" She nodded. She was pretty sure it was important. "Any idea how much further it is? It's already past noon and we still have the hike back to the Mystery Shack."

She looked up, the distant woolen wall had indeed gotten closer since the last time she checked, but how much she couldn't tell. She couldn't see the Sun either, just the wool of the sweater. There were some clouds in the sky. It was like she was very tiny inside the dome of a giant sweater structure. It certainly didn't cover the whole earth but she wasn't really sure how big it was. She shrugged. He didn't stop, but his pace slowed a very tiny bit.

"Okay," said Dipper, more to himself than to Mabel. "Another hour, at the most," She opened her mouth to protest, and did so (only managing to say "Dipppperrrr"), "than we have to turn back! I don't want us to get lost out here in the dark! We don't have enough supplies, and we didn't tell anyone where we were going! If we don't make it there today, maybe we can take the golf cart out next time, or hitch a ride with Soos." Mabel thought about protesting further, but... that actually made really good sense. In fact, that was a way better plan than going out on foot. She nodded in agreement.

They continued on, Dipper now regularly checking his watch, which did annoy her a bit, but not enough to say anything about it, well, okay, maybe say was the wrong words. Words! BLARGH!

Their time was just about up when she saw it. The edge of sweater town. She hadn't believed it to be reachable, to be real, but there it was! "DIPPER!" she shouted in excitement, running ahead through the edge of the trees into an area that couldn't be called a clearing.

She ran full speed towards it, stopping inches short. At this distance she could see the threads, larger than her whole body. Thin frayed strands covered it like it was a furry animal. Without so much as considering the consequences, she reached out both her hands and grabbed it. It was soft and fuzzy, just like she expected it to be.

There wasn't a gap here like she had hoped. Her aim must have been off. But the tear would only have been icing on her proverbial cake. Just seeing the sweater wall was enough. It had to be enough. And now Dipper would see it too!

Her brother walked up beside her, his eyes searching the wall, a confused expression on his face. She smiled in triumph, "Sooooo, is this the place?" he asked. Mabel rolled her eyes as if to say, 'well, a-doy!' Dipper turned back to the wall, his eyes flicking back and forth across it. "Mabel," he said as he walked forward, "There isn't any-" he vanished as he stepped into the wool. She let out a gasp of surprise and hurried over to where her brother had disappeared. Desperately, her hands moved along the wool, searching for him.

"Dipper? Dipper!" she screamed, trying as hard as she could to push into the wall and drag him out but the wall didn't budge. She hit it with her fist, still screaming his name. Suddenly he was there, in front of her, catching her arm as she swung it down. His hands came out of the wool as if he were some kind of ghost. She reversed his grip and grabbed him by the wrists. She yanked him as hard as she could. He toppled forward into her and they tumbled down to the ground.

When they stopped rolling, Mabel sat atop him, tears leaking down from her eyes. Her hands were still clutching tightly to his wrists and his name still echoing out of her mouth. "Dipper, Dipper, Dipper!" she sobbed, before burying her face in his shirt. Dipper couldn't have looked more confused. He at last managed to free one of his hands so he could gently hold his sister's back as she sobbed against him.

"Mabel, it's alright, calm down, I'm fine, I'm right here," said Dipper. He let her cry for a good minute or so before gasping out, "Mabel, you're crushing me." At last she rolled off him, still not letting go of his hand. Her sobbing had subsided somewhat. For one terrible moment she thought she had lost him forever, again. There was no way she could have gone through that twice, what would she even have done, escape into sweater town a second time? Was that even possible? Would it be some kind of super sweater town? That thought at last got her to finally stop crying as she stared up into the sweater-sky.

"What the heck happened there, Mabes?" asked Dipper, looking over to his twin. She was still staring intently skyward, unable to look at him, afraid she might burst into tears again if she did. "You really freaked out there. Couldn't you hear me saying it was okay? And what was with the mime in a box thing?"

She sat up abruptly, she was still holding tightly to her brother's hand. Rather than letting him go, she got awkwardly to her feet before helping pull her brother up, or at least trying. Finally he obliged.

Once they were on their feet again, she pulled him back towards the woolen wall and pressed a hand into the thread. He looked at her, his face all serious but confused. She rolled her eyes and pointed to the thing, couldn't he see it!

...Except, maybe he couldn't. That hadn't occurred to her before. He had walked through it like it wasn't even there. And if he could walk through it, maybe he couldn't see it either. This really was a waste after all, she couldn't tell him about it, she couldn't show it to him. This was all so frustrating!

"Mabel, you're chewing on your hair again," said Dipper. She stopped chewing and spat out the strands of hair, she hadn't realized were in her mouth. "Look, something's going on, you just need to help me figure out what." He was looking around the small open space in the trees. "I just see trees, and dirt, and that rock over there," he pointed back over her shoulder to a small boulder sitting well clear of the woolen wall.

She needed... something, to help her brother see it. She had an idea, a stupid idea but those were often the best kind of ideas. She let go of Dipper's hand and backpedaled away from the wall a few steps. She really hoped that this would work. And that it wouldn't hurt too badly.

"Mabel, what are - " Dipper began. She launched herself forward and sprinted towards the wall. With only a few feet to go, she jumped up into the air as high as she could. Dipper let out a cry of alarm, that turned into a shout of surprise as she crashed into the wall. Thankfully it was very soft, so slamming into it didn't hurt at all. She hadn't intended to do so but her hands had instinctively grabbed onto the threads at the last moment. Dipper was still staring at her, stammering incoherently.

"Wh - How! You're floating? Flying!" cried Dipper, finally forcing words to come out of his throat. He seemed to snap out of his stupor for a moment. He yanked off his backpack, pulled out his camera and switched it on. "Adventure 17-92, My Flying Sister! A moment ago I watched her run and leap into the air! Now she's just-" Dipper's voice cut off a second time as Mabel watched him walk back through the wall, circling around to get a better view.

She couldn't see him and she couldn't hear him. It didn't feel good to lose sight of him like this. Mabel looked upwards, wondering how high she could climb and if she should. She could see both the neck hole high above as well as the rip in the shoulder. What would happen if she climbed all the way out? Would she just wake up in her own room again?

She suddenly felt a hand touch her shin, almost making her lose her grip on the wall. It was just a brief touch. The hand pulled back into the wall. At least it confirmed he was still there, still alive and moving around.

Another long moment passed until at last -

"-netic fields or maybe some kind of anti gravity thing?" continued Dipper's voice as he emerged on her other side. He took a few steps closer, pointing the camera towards her feet and waving his arm under her shoes. She had decided to wear a skirt today, so hopefully he wasn't going to tilt it up at her. "Mabel, can you get down or are you stuck there?"

She thought about trying to climb for a second but she was only a few feet above the ground. So, she just let go and dropped down.

"Ha! That was incredible!" exclaimed Dipper. "Can you do the running jump thing again?" She shot him an incredulous look of, _really_? "Mabel, come on, we need it for the video!" She rolled her eyes, took a few steps back and performed her running jump once more. With the same results. Dipper let out a cry of excitement, filming all the while. She dropped back down after a moment of hanging to the wool.

"Okay, okay, I want to try something else," said Dipper, camera still going and pointed at her. She wasn't super happy being the focus of attention. Those stupid internet comments from her last visit floated unbidden into her brain. She crossed her arms over her chest. She didn't feel that different from last time but it was really hard to judge.

However, she was only able to keep one arm across her chest and Dipper took the other. Camera still pointed at her, he pulled her towards the wall.

"I am now going to see if it is possible to pull my sister through whatever is here," said Dipper, walking backwards and pulling her along. They drew closer to one of the huge threads. His back touched the wool and he began to slide through it as if it wasn't there. "Let me know when I'm-" but his voice cut off as he vanished into the wool.

Having him go through this time was far less nerve wracking than any previous time because she still had his hand. She let him pull her forward, until her hand hit the wool and stopped. He tugged lightly, but didn't pull harder. She looked at the spot where he should be, all she could see was his fist and a tiny bit of wrist, she had to imagine where the rest of him was.

They stayed like that for a long while. A couple times, Dipper tried to tug her through. He let her go at one point, adjusting his grip up her arm and seeing if pulling on her elbow would help. But no matter what he tried, her hand wouldn't slip through the wool. Although, he never tried pulling very hard. After far too long, she finally pulled on him to come back, she'd had enough of not being able to see him. He walked through easily, camera still recording, "-able." came his words as his face materialized out of the wall.

She looked at him hopefully. Dipper was studying her face.

"Mabel," he said after a long moment. She felt a chill run through her spine. Oh no, was he just stuck on her name too now? "You... you didn't hear anything I've been saying to you, have you?" She let out a sigh of relief, okay, he was normal. Well, as normal as he ever was anyway. She shook her head. She hadn't heard him say anything on the other side of the wall.

"Uh, could I have my hand back?" She looked towards the wall and frowned. "I promise I'm not going anywhere." She nodded reluctantly and finally released him. "So, I said somethings I know would have gotten at least some reaction out of you," said Dipper, "I'll, uh, have to edit it out later. Anyhow, you just kinda sat there blankly. Which means - " He pulled a pen from somewhere and was clicking with his free hand, the camera still in his other hand, still recording. " - you can't hear me past a certain point. You can't physically move beyond a certain point." He turned to look at the wall he obviously could not see. "There's something here," he waved his free hand right into the wall, "isn't there? Something only you can see?" She nodded. He nodded.

"Okay, okay now we're getting somewhere," said Dipper. "It doesn't sound like anything I've read about. Could you describe it for me?" Dipper bopped himself in the head, nearly poking his eye with the pen. "Right, sorry, of course - " but this was actually a question she could answer!

She tugged her sweater forward and pointed exuberantly at it. Dipper looked at her, then the sweater in confusion. "It's made of butterflies?" Mabel rolled her eyes. She tugged the side of her sweater instead and pointed at the wool. Dipper's eyes seemed to bug out of his head. "It's made out of fabric?" She continued to point. "Out of wool, WAIT!" Dipper seemed to have a sudden epiphany. "Wait, Mabel is it - is it a sweater?" She nodded so hard she thought her teeth might fly out. "Is it your sweater?" Dipper asked, everything seeming to fall into place. She nodded even harder. Dipper stood frozen, the pen clicking stopped, the camera pointed mostly towards the ground.. "How - " his voice broke, he coughed to clear his throat " -. how big is this sweater thingy?"

Her eyes scanned around her, they were in the forest still, so she couldn't really see where the other side was. Maybe she could give a rough approximation? Her arm pointed to the wall and she swept it in a big circle around them, coming back to where she started. Dipper's face seemed to have become even more tight, his expression unreadable.

"How tall?" he asked. She moved her hand across the sky and back to the ground. "Mabel... are you in..." he seemed to be steeling himself against the answer to the question he couldn't believe he was about to ask. He paused, looked down at the camera and abruptly shut it off. "Mabel, are we - are we in sweater town right now?"

She smiled sheepishly and nodded. He seemed to take the news well, for all of a tenth of a second before he dropped both the camera and pen. He put both hands against his head, his eyes unnaturally wide with fear as he began to panic.

"But if that's true, it means, I'm not real. None of this is real! My whole life is made up?! I don't exist, Mabel! I don't exist! You just imagined me, this place, all of it! It's Mabel Land all over again! Oh no! Are we in Mabel Land, did we never leave? Did any of that really happen?" She managed to grab him into a hug, trying to calm him down.

"Dipper," she said, trying to stop the crash his brain was tumbling into. But he went on, spiraling down into babbling nonsense.

"Am I Dippy-Fresh? Please tell me I'm not Dippy-Fresh? Is my hat on backwards?" He struggled out an arm and to check that his pine tree ball cap was indeed pointed forward

"DIPPER!" she shouted. Finally he stopped, still looking a little panic stricken.

"Right, right, maybe I overreacted to being a completely fictional character in your fantasy world and OH MY GOD!" cried Dipper, his voice rising hysterically. She rolled her eyes again and grabbed both sides of his face. She smooshed his cheeks together making it impossible for him to continue talking. She tried to will her calm into him. This at last seemed to snap him out of it. "Okay, alright, I'm fine. Just coming to grips with being make-believe is all. Huh, actually, wait a minute."

His eyes swiveled back to the boundary that she couldn't pass, then, once more, without a word he stepped across it. Briefly, she considered breaking into hysterics herself. If there was a time to do so, now seemed pretty good. She managed to hold it together. Not more than a few seconds later, Dipper reappeared, once more muttering to himself and clicking yet another pen he had pulled from someplace. He was never one to lack for a pen. What an adorable nerd.

He continued to talk to himself in an inaudible whisper but it was a good sort of muttering this time, a thoughtful sort. He gazed at the invisible wall, looking up and down it. She was still pretty sure he couldn't see it. He gazed at her, then the wall, then at her again, still talking quietly to himself.

"Okay," Dipper whispered, finally loud enough for her to hear. He was clicking the pen so fast that she thought it might suddenly burst into flames. Her brother paced back and forth. "You're in sweater town, maybe. Mabel's sweater town. What does it mean?" She reached out and caught his pen clicking hand as he paced. She stopped him, both clicking and pacing. He looked confused for a long moment, then he looked down at his hand.

"Oh, hehe, sorry, you know I do that when I'm thinking." She nodded. "Wait, the camera." Dipper knelt back down and picked up his camera. He turned it back on and for a moment, she thought he was going to point it at her again, but he didn't. Instead, he went into the replay option and selected the video he had just been recording.

"Adventure 17-92, My Flying Sister!" came Dipper's voice from the camera. It was pointed at her back, but he was circling around her. She was floating in the air. Mabel looked up to confirm the sweater wall was still there. It was. She looked back down at the video. There was no sweater in the video.

The view point was circling around. It swept past her side but as it hit the wall the image cut out completely. Not static or distortion but just endless blackness. Mabel frowned, it hadn't been able to record outside of sweater town. Abruptly, after a minute or so, the video came back on "-netic fields or maybe some kind of anti gravity thing?" Dipper stopped the playback.

"Okay, Dipper. You're real man, because you still exist outside of this place," he muttered to himself. "And you have video from outside that proves it." She looked at him in confusion. He didn't have video, it had just been a blank screen… hadn't it?

Unless… just like he couldn't see the sweater, she couldn't see outside it? Maybe the outside world didn't exist for her? No, that wasn't right. The nose picking video had been recorded at their house back in California and that was way outside the sweater. And she had been able to watch that just fine. Except, it had been made while she wasn't here. And - oh darn was Dipper talking to her?

He waved a hand in front of her face, "Mabel, are you listening to me?" he asked. She smiled apologetically at him. "I asked, are you in sweater town?" a nod from her. "Am I in sweater town?" a much more tentative nod from her, along with a shaking hand gesture she hoped he would interpret as 'maybe.' "You didn't bring me into sweater town with you?" She shook her head and her expression must have told him something more because an almost fearful look crossed his face. "Mabel... why are you in sweater town? You only go there when you don't want to face the real world, like when our pet hamster, Mr. Pickles... well, you know, left us." She looked into Dipper's eyes.

"Dipper," she whispered. Then looked down. That was the reason, right on the nose but he didn't seem to make the connection.

"I mean, that still doesn't really explain how you got here or taking over my Mabel's body once a year or any of that," said Dipper. Kneeling down, he unzipped his pack and rifled through it. He produced his journal number two from it. And, to her surprise, his journal number one as well.

"Great Uncle Ford helped me recount some of the stuff that was in his journal," explained Dipper. "A lot of it is my own stuff, and, some of it is your stuff too, I mean, you know what I mean, Original Mabel's stuff." She nodded, not sure where he was going with this. "You can see something here, right?" Nod. "Maybe you can find something like it in one of these books? Maybe my Mabel encountered something like it and wrote an entry?"

Dipper handed her his journal number one. She took it, pressing her hand against the pine tree. "Hey, flip it over," said Dipper softly. There was something in his voice, some loving, affectionate, tone there that she hadn't heard from him before. She liked it, even if the sound felt strange to her.

She flipped the journal over and her eyes widened. On the back of the journal, in shiny golden foil, was a five pointed star. Written inside were the words: _Dipper and Mabel's Guide to the Unknown._ She felt hot tears of joy leaking out of her eyes and quickly wiped them away.

"That was your - her - idea by the way," said Dipper, a smile in his voice. She rushed forward and hugged her brother. He hugged her back. After a moment he coughed. "You better - uh - start looking, we only have an hour at the most before we really need to start heading back." She nodded.

Sitting down in the grass, she began to flip through the journal. At first, the pages were all in blue ink, her brother's color of choice. However, as she went on wards, entries from her, from Bel, began to pop up. More and more frequently.

While she looked, Dipper busied himself in the second journal. She wasn't sure what he was doing but she guessed he was maybe working on the entry for the thing they were currently at. She smiled at her nerd brother. Then returned her attention to the book in her hands.

She didn't find anything until the very end of the book, in its last dozen pages. She let out an excited cry of, "Dipper!" getting her brother's attention. He hurried over to her.

"What did you find?" Dipper cried. He looked at the pages and the heading. _Sweater Town_. He frowned slightly at that, this wasn't new information. "Is that what it looks like?" he said pointing at the hand drawn picture Bel must have made. It wasn't exactly like what she was seeing but it was pretty close. Both Mabel and Dipper read the entry to themselves.

 _It happened today. For the first time in a long time I went into sweater town. I just couldn't take it. Waddles… He…_ (there was a blotch on the page here and words that had been smeared out). _Mom doesn't seem to care, I think dad's glad he's gone. Only Dipper really understands. But I need some time. I need to go somewhere where everything's fine. Where Waddles is fine._

 _So I pulled on my favorite sweater, it was way too small for me but I managed to squeeze inside. I told myself it was okay, that he was in a better place, that pigs don't live forever. But it wasn't fine. I wasn't fine._

 _I must have cried myself to sleep. The next thing I remember, I was back at the fair where me and Waddles first met. I was reliving the best day of my life! It was perfect, Dipper even got Wendy this time!_

 _The only thing that was odd was the sky, it was all funky._ (An arrow had been drawn pointing to the illustration). _I could see my sweater up in the sky. Not sure what it means._

 _I couldn't stay there forever. After I fell asleep in sweater town I woke up back in my room, with my brother holding me in his arms._

 _I tried again once after that, but I was never able to get the same effect to happen. Worse, I tore my sweater pretty badly, I am way too big for it now. I tried patching it up, but the thread keeps falling out. I'm afraid if I crawl into it again I might tear it in half._

 _Anyhow. I think I'm better now._

In a different hand at the bottom of the page, that wasn't Mabel's or Dippers, there was a small note. _Possibly Wormholes. More research needed._ It looked a lot like the loopy style their Great Uncle Ford's journals had contained.

Mabel had to wipe her eyes again. She had been crying through the whole thing. Waddles… Had passed away… Dipper had his arm around her.

"Sorry," he said, "that's not the way you should have found out. I keep forgetting you don't know things about your own life." She leaned into him. "I remember my Mabel telling me about this. I thought it was just her overactive imagination." Dipper squinted down at the page as he continued to hold and console his sister.

"Hold on, there's a note here from Great Uncle Ford!" cried Dipper. "Wormholes? I think there's something about that in journal two?" She looked at Dipper in confusion. Why was their Uncle writing in their book. "I have no idea what you're thinking." Admitted Dipper. She pointed at the line written by Ford. "Yeah, Wormholes are in book two." She shook her finger and jabbed at it. "Oh, oh," he finally seemed to understand. "Well, we kind of wrote stuff in his journal, and he wanted to see how we were doing with ours, and we let him borrow it. He's got notes all over." That kind of made sense.

"Alright, Wormholes," muttered Dipper. One handed he opened journal two, laying it atop journal one in his sister's lap. He began flipping through its pages, once more muttering as he did. "Not zombies, or unicorns, or trolls... Ah ha! Here!"

He jabbed a finger at the page but he hadn't needed too she was already reading the title: _Wormholes_. This entry too appeared to have been written by Great Uncle Ford. She read the very brief summary below:

 _These structures through time and space are a fairly common occurrence in Gravity Falls_. _I believe they are the result of an instability with the main travel system of the ship, after its crash. They are scattered throughout the forest letting creatures jump back and forth between different times and possibly even realities. Sadly I have been unable to investigate the few I have encountered as there is no way to tell what is on the other side, and returning may prove difficult or even impossible, not to mention the inherent dangers. Additionally..._

Mabel stopped reading, her tongue sticking out slightly between her teeth as it often did when she was concentrating. The notes went on and on, including what looked like complex math. She looked back up at her brother, who was all kinds of excited. Sure, it might be that but the drawing included on the second page was a big spiral black hole-y thing-ie, it didn't look anything like - Dipper flipped the pages forward. Mabel felt her eyes widen, it was impossible.

 _Woolholes | Experiment #173c_

 _Similar to wormholes, I have dubbed this phenomenon woolholes, after the inherent visible structure. After becoming tangled in a superconductive sweater of my own design, made to allow me closer access to the vortex generator (see Experiment 173a), I was surprised to find myself back in my childhood. However, I was not as I am now, I had become a young boy once more. Somehow, I had inadvertently opened a hole in my own personal space-time, allowing me to travel backwards into my past._

 _Everything was extremely real and tangible. All of my reasoning faculties continued to work, and I was able to solve complex logical puzzles and problems. All this leads me to discount the possibility of a trick, hallucination, or dream. While it might certainly not have been real, it felt very real. The only oddity being that wherever I went, whatever building I was in, or even when I was outside, I could always see the sweater looming above me, like some type of great structure holding the whole world inside it. Although I never made time to actually go out to the edges._

 _At first this seemed like the opportunity of a lifetime, I could warn myself of the dangers to come, I could fix unforeseeable problems. I could mend the broken fences of my family. But alas, it was not to be. The changes in the woolholes are either not carried forward into the present or are acting on some parallel alternate universe, similar to my own but not my own. I spent several days attempting to send my future self a message, going so far as to brand it onto my skin. However, upon returning to my own time and place, not a single change had occurred._

 _Eventually, whatever power the sweater had to let me travel into the past dissipated and I had no desire to attempt any further experiments with it._

There were some additional notes, things like the weave of the sweater, the materials (most of which Mabel couldn't pronounce) and of course hand drawn pictures. There was also another small note on the bottom that seemed to have been added later than the others.

 _My great niece may have inadvertently stumbled upon a woolhole as well. See her entry in Journal #1._

Dipper was chewing on his pen as he read, a sure sign that he had moved from rapid contemplation into deep thought. He was re-reading the journal entry. "It doesn't answer the biggest question I have right now." Dipper looked her in the eyes, his expression a terrible seriousness that she did not like. "Why are you here?"

* * *

The walk back to the shack was a very uncomfortable affair. Dipper led the way, increasing his pace whenever Mabel got too close to him. They hadn't done any more filming at the sweater's edge. Instead Dipper had simply re-packed the journals and camera before announcing that they were heading home.

At first she had just thought his quick pace was to get them back faster. She soon realized that Dipper was trying to avoid her. She felt angry at first. However, the anger quickly became fear. He had learned a lot about her today. The more that she thought about how he was acting, the more it seemed like Dipper didn't at all like what he had found.

When they finally made it back to the shack, she felt like a nervous wreck. Dipper muttered something about going off to find Ford and she just nodded. She watched her brother depart, apparently Ford wasn't here… or Dipper was lying to her about where he was going. Either way, she headed up to their room and crawled into her bed.

The longer she thought about it, the more she came to a realization. This fantasy world kind of sucked. She had escaped here to be with her brother, to have him back, to not have to deal with the harsh reality that waited for her once she left.

So far though, she had only gotten a single day with him doing anything fun at all! Everything else had been strained or awkward between them. Even that day of fun had been uncomfortable owing to her own clothing issues.

Today she had been hoping to get answers, to improve things, to figure out a way to stay here! Instead, all she had done was seemingly make things worse! Her own brother seemed to hate her now!

She hid under her sheets and tucking herself into her sweater. She was still too big for the bed if she had spread herself out. Luckily, she chose to curl into a little ball instead. She wanted to vanish into her sweater a second time, to escape this reality.

It didn't happen though. Instead, she spent the next few hours on the verge of tears. Her mind racing over the events of the day, trying to see what she had done wrong. It was hours before Dipper returned. His quiet entry into the room and his lack of words made her feel like all he had to tell her were things she didn't want to hear.

"Mabel," whispered Dipper. There it was, that tone in his voice that said 'I don't know how to trust you.' "You still awake?" She nodded under her sheets. She felt Dipper sit beside her. A little part of her brain reminded her this was how her day had started, back in the real world, except with the promise of strawberry pancakes. Pancakes were unlikely to be the case now.

"I'm sorry," said her brother. Her breath caught in her throat, she didn't want to make even the slightest sound, she didn't want to miss anything he said. "This has… this has been sort of a lot for me to take in." She was still under the sheets, still tucked in her sweater, still holding her breath. She didn't know what would happen if she came out now, so she just stayed there.

"I talked to Great Uncle Ford about this whole thing," continued Dipper. "He just said, 'I know,'" she could hear a very slight tone of annoyance in his voice. "Apparently he figured it out like four years ago..." There was a long pause and she felt his hand come to rest on her side. "He always figures everything out," Dipper muttered and she felt his comments were directed towards something else. He took a sharp breath.

"Mabel… why are you here, in sweater town? Why do you keep coming back?" She tucked herself tighter. Even if she could speak, how could she possibly answer that? There was no possible way she could tell him that! "I know you only hide yourself away like this when you are really upset. But the most you've ever done it was for a few hours… You've been coming here for years!"

That last part was only sort of true. From her perspective she had been coming here for days. But he was right. The longest she had ever needed to escape into sweater town had never been more than a few hours.

Of course… she had never…

She burst out from under the sheets and grabbed her brother in a hug, holding him tightly and crying his name into his chest. She couldn't tell him. No matter what he asked. No matter how close he got to the truth she could never, ever…

Dipper's watch beeped. She looked as he lifted his wrist and the glowing number read Tweleve'o-


	6. Chapter 6 - The Goodbye

Sweater Town

Chapter 6 – The Goodbye

By Starwin

* * *

Waking up these past few days had been very difficult for Mabel. Getting out of bed was even harder and wanting to get out of bed had felt almost impossible. Every morning was unwelcome. Every day was just another reminder that she was still here and that Dipper was… not.

However, this morning wasn't as bad as the last time or even the few before that. She felt more like her old self, more like the person she had been before. She hated this feeling. She was never supposed to feel like that again. She could never be how she once was. At least not while she was here. Not while she was awake.

In sweater town she could be her true self. In her dreams she could pretend that everything was fine, that everything was how it should be. The only problem was that she kept waking up! She tried to hold onto as much of her made up reality as she could. But the details tumbled out of her reach and she was left with only the vaguest bits and pieces.

Half-awake, half-asleep, she scooted out of bed. Hardly thinking about anything, she trudged down the hall to the bathroom. She clumsily stripped out of her clothing, including her fuchsia sweater. She also pulled off all her bandages and inspected the state of her injuries. Most were faded red and healing. A couple of them had scabbed over completely. And the bruises looked less black and blue and more like normal pale skin.

Toilet, shower, brush her teeth then her hair (she wasn't feeling coordinated enough right now to try doing both at the same time) and finally she put on some fresh bandages. Then it was back to her room, to change. She picked her orange and purple sunset sweater. It was knitted in such a way that when she put her arms at her sides, there was a picture of a sunset across her chest. If she spun around, there was an image of a sunrise on her back.

After dressing - it had taken her a few minutes extra because she couldn't find where any of her bras were, until she realized she didn't own any - she headed downstairs for breakfast.

Neither of her parents were awake yet. She wasn't sure how many hours it would be before they were up but she wasn't going to wait for them. She felt strangely hungry and wondered when the last time she had eaten was. Bits of her dream floated back to her and she recalled half a tuna sandwich in the forest. Had that actually happened? Did food in sweater town translate to food here? The grumble of her tummy was a decided no.

In any case, she could make her own food. Scrambled eggs (with sugar), turkey bacon (obviously, she didn't eat ham products anymore, also with sugar), sliced fruit (an apple, an orange, and a banana, with sugar), a couple slices of sourdough toast (with peanut butter, naturally, and sugar) and of course, orange juice (with some sugar mixed in for good measure). She had briefly thought of maybe mixing up some MabelJuice (patent pending) but decided she didn't need that much of a kick, how bad could today possibly be?

After breakfast, she would head back up to her room and crawl into her sweater. She would return to Gravity Falls for another day of fun and adventure with her best bro. Hopefully, after everything that had happened last time, he would still want to spend time with her. It was hard to remember much about her dream but she was sure that Dipper discovered something he didn't like. Still, whatever it was, she was sure they would work through it. They always did.

She munched away happily at her breakfast creation. Her turkey bacon had come out a little more crispy than she liked. And the peanut butter was really messing with her braces this morning (she would have to brush her teeth again after breakfast, stupid braces). But otherwise, she felt oddly okay. Not great, not whole but just a little better.

The hungry snorts of Waddles drew her attention down to her pet pig. He had made his way into the kitchen. She had forgotten to close the gate. She smiled at him as he nuzzled up against her foot, expecting scraps of forbidden food. It was her parents that had forbade the pig from coming into the kitchen. Partly because he was a pig and partly because Mabel kept feeding him table scraps, much like she was doing now. Waddles ate greedily as she gave him some of the toast and bits of her turkey bacon, thankful (not for the first time) that it was turkey bacon.

Something else from her dream crawled forward and Mabel felt tears come unbidden to her eyes. Waddles, he… in the dream… he was… She tumbled down out of her chair and grabbed her pig up in a huge hug. Unlike Dipper, who always tried to squirm away, Waddles nuzzled into her and happily oinked her name. Or doorbell, she had never really figured out which it was. Their house didn't have a doorbell though, so he was probably saying Mabel.

When she had returned from Gravity Falls with a pig her parents - to say the least - had not been happy. It had been her mother that met the twins at the bus stop and she had eyed the pig wearily. Mabel had cradled the animal protectively to her chest. She had decided on the ride down that she was never going to let him go, no matter what her parents said. If they wouldn't let her keep her pig she would sneak him into the house.

However, it had not come to that. Dipper had stood up for her. He had told their mom how much Waddles meant to Mabel, how much Waddles meant to him. She hadn't realized how much Dipper adored the animal or was at least willing to say that he did. Like always, he was willing to do anything for her.

At last, after a night of discussion, their parents had relented. Mabel could keep her pig, however there were some rules. He was to be a house pig at all time. Their mom didn't want to clean up muddy hoofprints all over the house. She'd had enough of that with the twins already. He needed to be house trained which, Mabel had already painstakingly done. Pig poops next to your bed was not something you wanted to wake up to in the morning. There were several rooms he was not allowed in, including their parents room and the kitchen. And most importantly of all, he was not to be given food from the table.

All these demands had been reasonable and, for the most part, Mabel had tried to stick to them. She actually thought she had done a pretty good job on her part, all things considered. Sure she snuck him a bit of food here and there. And yes, she had taken him into the bath with her, which was technically in their parents room. But all in all, she had mostly, almost, sort of, followed the rules.

"Waddles, out!" came her mother's slightly irritated voice. The words pulled Mabel out of her moment of cuddles and she let her pig go. Waddles snorted pleadingly at Mabel to let him stay but she just shook her head. Her mother used her foot to gently prod Waddles into leaving the kitchen. "Honestly, Mabel," her mother chided. "You spoil that pig. If you keep sneaking him food he's going to be a hundred pounds!" Her mother closed the gate to the kitchen and Mabel went back to her breakfast.

"I see you already made food," said her mother with a smile. Mabel nodded. Her mother's smile faltered. "Mabel, you remember what today is, right?" Mabel looked up from her almost finished plate to see her mother in a long black dress. "That isn't what you're wearing to the funeral, is it?"

Mabel felt the color drain out of her face. The - WHAT? She stood abruptly from the table, or rather she would have if her legs hadn't been shaking so badly. Darn it, her whole body was shaking and she couldn't stop it. She looked desperately at her mother, she had to be joking, this was a bad joke, a horrible joke. Her mother frowned. It was not a joke.

Instead of saying anything, her mom crossed over to her and hugged her. Mabel just hung limply in her arms, her brain whirling in her head, completely lost and confused. She… she didn't want to go. She didn't want to see. Because if she did, it would be real, it would be final.

She wiggled out of her mother's grasp and nearly toppled out of her chair. Ignoring her mother's words, Mabel stumbled up to her room, almost blind with tears. Her mother called after her but Mabel couldn't hear what had said.

The moment she was back in her room, she slammed the door. Not for the first time she wished she had a lock. Dipper's room had a lock, which she had thought was silly because all you had to do to get around it, was use a hairpin. She frowned as she thought about Dipper. She needed him right now more than ever. She was going to sweater town.

She yanked off her sunset sweater and pulled on her shooting star instead. She climbed into bed and curled up inside her woolen garment. She let the awful memories that had led her to this day wash over her. She felt herself starting to slip down into sweater town.

"Mabel," called her mother's voice from outside her door. The words seemed to pull her back and Mabel began to slide away from the embrace of the dream world she so badly longed to escape into. She struggled to get away, to go, to escape. She forced the images into her mind. She commanded the sight of her brother dieing in front of her to fill her thoughts. She began to fall as he pushed her.

The sensation this time was far different than any she had ever experienced before. Going into sweater town had always felt safe. It was like floating on a cloud. Like drifting down into warmth. This, was painful. It felt like she was being torn apart, pulled in all different directions. She wasn't just falling, she was falling to pieces. Any moment a scream would escape her lips...

Her mother placed a hand on her and Mabel was instantly snapped back into her bedroom. She gasped and began to sob inside her sweater. Her mother mistook the sounds as just crying. But it was more than that. Going into sweater town had hurt! Worse, the images she'd had to conjure to do it were horrible and they still burned in her brain.

"Mabel, my little darling angel," whispered her mother as she stroked her daughter's back. "I know this is difficult. I know it's hard for you. But Ma - your brother would want you there. He would need you there. And you would never feel right if you didn't come." Mabel didn't respond. She didn't show any sign that she had heard. Her mother remained to comfort her a while longer.

"Please, come out," pleaded her mother after a long while had passed. There was a pained note of sadness in her voice that Mabel couldn't simply ignore. She finally poked her head out of her sweater, her face stained with tears. Her mother leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. "Please get changed, we need to go soon."

* * *

Mabel didn't really remember getting dressed a second time. Oh, she had done it, but she lacked any memory of doing it. One minute she had been pulling off her previous attire and the next she was getting into the family car. She was dressed all in black like she was expected to be. For the first time in her life there was no sweater she wanted to wear. No sweater, except for her shooting star but she couldn't risk that.

She wasn't sure what had happened but trying to go to sweater town hadn't worked. It was like she had been blocked? Or kicked out? Was the damage her sweater had sustained finally starting to affect her ability to travel there? Or had it been her mother's interruption that had pulled her out. Maybe both? She didn't know.

Or maybe it was something else completely. Dipper had called it a woolhole. No. No, it had been Great Uncle Ford had called it that. For the very first time since she had gone up to her room to cry that morning, Mabel felt a tingle of excitement. They were going to her brother's funeral. There was no way her uncles wouldn't be there. And Ford would know what was happening to her, he might even be able to help her with it!

She cursed herself for not thinking of it sooner or for not bringing her sweater with so he could have examined it. All she had to do was tell... him - Her thoughts derailed. DARN IT! Talk to him. She couldn't talk to anyone! She slouched back into the seat and her eyes shifted to the absent spot beside her. If only Dipper was here, he would have figured it out. He was so smart… and… gone…

* * *

The ceremony took place outside on a wide open field of green grass. A surprising number of people had shown up. Most of their extended family and close friends had come to pay their respects. Also, many of the inhabitants of Gravity Falls were in attendance. Much to Mabel's surprise, even Pacifica Northwest was there, although her parents were noticeably absent. More than two hundred people filled out the white fold-up chairs spread across the grassy field.

Mabel sat in the front row, between her parents, only a dozen feet away from where her brother lay in his walnut brown box. There was a large picture of him beside it, smiling like he almost never did and hatless like he almost never was.

Their parents were not religious, so it was Great Uncle Ford that led them. He talked about how Dipper had been the most amazing thirteen-year-old he had ever met, possibly the most amazing person he had ever met. Some of the events of their summer adventure were omitted. The 'never mind all that act' didn't technically apply here in California but bringing up some of the details seemed out of place. Besides, all the people that it mattered too, already knew what Dipper and Mabel had done.

Other people got up to speak, including Soos and Grunkle Stan. Both of whom couldn't get through their prepared words without breaking down. Her father also spoke about his son, the things they had done together, the things they would never get to do and the things he regretted they had never done. His speech ended with him saying, that he wished he had taken more of an interest in Dipper's fascination with the supernatural.

Mabel let the words wash over her. Time slipped back and forth from dragging on to speeding by. Before she knew what was happening, she was standing beside her parents, accepting condolences from people. Faceless strangers hugged her or shook her hand or simply offered their words. A couple of them tried to get her to talk but she just remained silent.

Wendy had looked especially bad as she hugged Mabel tightly. Mabel just hugged her back, not feeling anything but empty. Wendy pressed something into her hand. Mabel realized it was the blue ballcap her brother had worn all summer long but left behind with Wendy in the hat exchange. The tall red headed girl didn't give Mabel a chance to refuse it before she hurried off.

To her surprise, when Pacifica reached her, the blond haired girl hugged her even tighter than Wendy had. She whispered into Mabel's ear that she never had the chance to tell Dipper how she really felt, which only left Mabel feeling confused.

On and on the hands and people and words went. It felt like hours, maybe it was. At last there were only a few attendees left. Many had departed but some family and very close friends were still around. Her parents were currently chatting with her Uncles and Soos. Mabel wandered off alone, avoiding eye contact with anyone.

She found herself in front of the picture of her brother that was so unfamiliar to her. If she'd had a marker on her, she would have drawn a hat on his head, also possibly a mustache and pointed goatee. Maybe even an eyepatch. It was hard to resist with a marker in hand. She didn't have any drawing or coloring implements on her though (she didn't even have any stickers!) so, instead her eyes turned to the wooden box beside her. She ran a hand along its cool polished surface, hardly able to believe her brother rested inside.

Her eyes flared with determination and her hands found the edge of the lid. It wasn't divided into two parts. Since it wasn't an open casket funeral - the accident had left him in a very unpresentable state. The top was heavier than she had expected but she managed to get it completely open.

Her whole face fell, tears and pain ran down her cheeks as her eyes found the body of her brother inside. He had been dressed in a black suit and tie. It was nothing like he ever wore. She almost flinched away from the sight. The suit, the pale complexion and lifeless features reminded her of Bipper, the name she had given Bill, that time he had taken over her brother's body. Actually, that was somehow better to think of him like that, like it was someone else laying there.

They had done the best they could with the side of his face but it was still a mess. His beautiful birthmark across his forehead was mostly gone. She was glad they hadn't decided to display him. She didn't want anyone else to see him like this, to remember him like this. She didn't want to remember him like this. But she couldn't look away, not yet.

She took a deep unsteady breath, pine, walnut and a pungent odor she couldn't place filled her nose. It was so surreal to see him this way. Just yesterday she had been hiking with him in the woods. Okay, not him exactly, an older him… a different him. But still him. Still Dipper. Still her brother.

It was like this was the dream. Like sweater town was real and this was all just a nightmare she was forced to endure. A nightmare she had decided she didn't want to keep enduring.

Dipper, in sweater town, had figured out what was happening to her. She knew that if she could only get back to him, he could figure out a way for her to stay in her dream.

She reached out with her trembling hand and touch the cold, lifeless face, of her twin. His skin didn't feel real, like he was made of stiff rubber instead of flesh. He wasn't real, this wasn't real. She clenched her other hand, the one not touching his face, and felt the soft fabric of the whole reason she had come over.

Mabel lifted her other hand to look at the blue ball cap with the pine tree sewn into its front. Then, with the utmost care, she gently placed it over her brother's face.

"Goodbye, Dip," she whispered, before closing his final resting place, unable to look at the sight any longer.

* * *

When they arrived back home, Mabel went right up to her room. Very few friends and family had been invited to the wake at their house. She was not up for talking with any of them. Really, she wasn't capable of talking to any of them.

Her mother tried very briefly to get her to come down, to at least spend some time with Ford or Stanley. But Mabel was hidden under her blankets and shook her head. With a sigh, her mom left her.

Once the door was shut, Mabel poked her head out of her blanket and tugged in the shooting star sweater that lay nearby. Under the safety of her covers she slipped it on over her head and tucked herself away inside the protective woolen warmth.

She took a deep breath, preparing for what came next. It was surprisingly easy to picture the last moments of her brother's life and even easier to accept it after what she had seen today. The moment played out before her eyes and for the first time, his voice echoed through her thoughts as she began to fall.

"MABEL!" Her name had been the very last thing he had ever said to her. Strangely enough, his name was the only thing she could say now.

The world jerked and twisted painfully as she began to fall. The trip into sweater town was more jarring and unpleasant than it had ever been before. The world shook and shuddered around her as she tumbled down through darkness. She hurt, she physically hurt as she fell. It was like she was being yanked in several different directions at once. Her limbs felt as if they were being pulled out of her sockets, her back bent and twisted, her fingers flexed in the wrong direction almost to the breaking point. A scream escaped her mouth carrying her brother's name out into the abyss around her.

Mabel slammed into her small camp bed with the force of having fallen off a hundred story skyscraper. The old bed groaned and buckled and failed under the impact. There was the sound of cracking wood and the smell of splinters and glue.

Her whole body hurt. Her thoughts were jumbled up and confused. Something was wrong with her right arm, it felt like she had landed on it the wrong way and it screamed in pain.

She gasped for air, her lungs burning as if she had been submerged underwater too long. Air didn't come as she wanted it to, so she kept gasping. Between gasps she shouted for Dipper. Although with the lack of air, these were almost whisper quiet sounds escaping her lips.

One of her gasps brought a cough, a cough that turned into the most painful, choking cough she'd ever had. When it subsided, she felt something trickling down the side of her face. She touched her cheek with her left hand and was alarmed to see blood on her fingers, that… that probably wasn't good.

For what felt like a lifetime she lay on her mattress in the ruins of her broken bed. Her mind was trying to take in everything around her but it was doing a horrible job of it. She was in the attic room once more, back in Gravity Falls. But all of it was wrong. She wasn't sure what was wrong but it was wrong!

Mabel closed her eyes, trying to catch her breath, trying to feel out the injuries in her body. She had broken bones before but this felt worse than all of that. It hurt to breath, why did it hurt to breath? Something was definitely wrong with her right arm. She tried to lift her weight off it and hot-banana-cream-and-peanutbutter-cookies it hurt so much! She stopped trying to get up and just continued to lay there.

"Dip- dipper!" Mabel finally managed to croaked out at last. Her weak voice was barely a whisper in her ears. "Dipper..." she said again, louder this time, breathing was still very painful, she coughed again. "DIPPER!" she choked into the silence before a hacking, body wracking, cough shook her. There was no answer. At least not at first.

After a moment, something in her pocket began to buzz and vibrate. The pocket was crushed under the side she was laying on. Music began to play.

 _Yooooo, Brother! There's a winding road for you to find!_ Mabel tried to move again, to reach into her pocket and get to her phone. She let out a yelp of pain as she tried to rise, falling back to her side. _Yooooo, Sister! Know the water's great but blood is greater! Ohhh, when the moon comes crashing down, on you, there's everything in this world that I would do!_

The music cut off and the call rolled into her voice mail. Mabel took another deep choking breath. It was like there was water in her lungs or something. She had to get up, she had to fight through the pain. She closed her eyes, steeling herself against the new pain about to come. She rolled onto her back.

Her whole body screamed. Pain flared across her from head to toe. It was like a white hot poker had been shoved into her shoulder. It was like someone was trying to open up her chest with a crowbar. With the movement she also discovered a whole new world of agony in her leg as well. One felt like someone was trying to yank it around in a way it wasn't meant to be yanked. However, that pain in her leg almost felt good when she realized she couldn't feel anything at all in her other leg, just an absent numbness.

Mabel screamed. The scream turned back into a cough, a cough that brought more blood with it. Once she stopped moving, the pain in her extremities started to diminish. She lay on her back, panting, looking up at the sweater ceiling above her.

She watched as a new rip began to open in the collar. Slowly the threads parted and the split traveled downwards a few inches. She was literally watching her world come apart.

Mabel turned her gaze away looking towards her wall. It was empty. With her left hand she felt across the mattress below her. No sheets. Her brain began to put the parts together. This was another year she wasn't here. Another fight with her brother? Or was it something else?

Her phone began to ring again. _Yooooo, Brother! There's a winding road for you to find!_ Mabel tried to reach into her pocket with right hand but her whole right arm wouldn't move, it was painful to even try. Instead, she tried with her left hand, regretting it almost instantly. She couldn't quiet reach the pocket and there was immediate pain as her body rolled slightly to the right. She gritted her teeth, wincing against the fresh wave of pain. Her fingers brushed her pocket but were not able to get inside.

The song ended again. She stopped struggling for her phone, relaxing back onto the mattress, trying to recover her strength. It was still hard to breath, but she was getting used to it, sort of. After a quick rest, she let her head turn to look towards her brother's bed and felt an electric shudder run through her. Dipper's wall was empty too, his bed also sheetless.

They weren't here at all. Neither of them. They hadn't come to Gravity Falls this year!

 _Yooooo, Brother! There's a winding road for you to find!_ Her phone began to ring again. She had to get this, she had to answer. She knew who was on the other end and she needed his help. With all her will, with all her determination, with everything she had, Mabel once again reached across her body with her left arm, her fingers diving for her pocket.

This time, she made it. She felt the glossy finish of her phone between her fingertips. She pinched it and yanked it free, dragging it onto her belly, where she couldn't actually see it hidden below her breasts. Stupid boobs! Always causing her problems!

She panted for a moment, trying to refocus. She moved her left hand around to pick up the phone and Dipper's face appeared on the screen, along with his name, _Goober_. She almost smiled at that.

Finally, she managed to tap the answer button.

"MABEL!" Dipper's voice shouted through the speaker. There was panic in every syllable. "WHAT HAPPENED?! WHERE ARE YOU?! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!"

"Dipper," Mabel moaned into the phone. That last movement had taken a lot out of her, she was having a hard time keeping her eyes open.

"Mabel! I need you to tell me where you are!" shouted Dipper. "Mabel can you hear me? Where are you!"

"Dipper," she moaned again into the phone, then her eyes rolled back into her head and she passed out.

She couldn't have been out for very long because the line was still open when her eyelids fluttered open. Her brother's voice was still shouting at her to answer. Groggy, eyes out of focus, she lifted the phone. She had been on the call for three minutes.

"Dipper…" she moaned into the handset.

"Mabel!" cried Dipper. "You're back! I could hear you breathing but you wouldn't answer! What happened, where are you?"

Where was she, what had happened? She… she couldn't remember. She tried to move and pain flared through her body. Right. That's right. She was back in sweater town and something had gone horribly wrong. She was hurt and Dipper wasn't here.

"Mabel I-" Dipper trailed off. "Oh no, no, no, no, no. No it can't be. This is the whole reason we didn't- Mabel, Blueberry Muffins!" Mabel grimaced, how was food going to help her right now? She groaned her brother's name into the phone.

"Fuck!" That caught her by surprise. She had never heard her brother say that before. Sure he was a little more loose with bad words than she was but she had never heard him say the 'F-word' before. "You have to be fucking kidding me!" Wow, okay, two of them. There was more swearing in the background that she couldn't make out. Dipper was obviously not holding the phone to his ear as he shouted.

"Other Mabel," said Dipper flatly. "Let me guess, you're in Gravity Falls, aren't you?"

"Dipper," she said weakly into the phone.

"Of course, of-fucking-course, hold on," shouted Dipper angrily. The call instantly cut off. Mabel felt her heart rip in two. Dipper… Dipper had hung up on her. She was injured, how much she didn't know but it was more pain than she ever remembered having and her brother had just abandoned her when she needed-

The phone began to ring again but it was a different song. _Hey I just saw you and this is cray-cray, but here's my number so call me someday._ Mabel tapped the answer icon, although it looked different. Before she could move the phone to her ear, Dipper's face appeared on the screen and her face appeared in the bottom corner. Mabel understood, Dipper had video called her, that's why he'd had to hang up.

For only the briefest moment he looked angry, then all that vanished when he actually saw her.

"Mabel!" cried Dipper his eyes flicking around taking in the scene. She smiled weakly at him. "What happened! Are you hurt? Are you in Gravity Falls?" She nodded trying to answer both questions.

She tilted the camera at last able to see her right arm that hurt so much. There wasn't any blood on her arm, so that was a good sign. The bad signs however were all over the rest of her body, the blood splatter around her lips, the way her elbow was facing towards her body, and her arm was bent the wrong way around. Yeah… yeah, that, she wasn't feeling so good looking at that arm.

Mabel lifted the camera up to and tilted down, trying to get a better view of her legs, fearing that one might possibly be missing. However, both legs were there, just splayed out. They were also bloodless. She tired to move them. One hurt a whole lot but it twitched slightly. The other stayed perfectly still and she didn't feel anything in it.

She pointed the camera back to her face, trying to put on a brave smile. The blood made it look like she was a vampire or something. Dipper looked frightened and pale.

"Mabel, stay right there, don't move, I'm going to call you right back, okay?" said Dipper. Mabel nodded. She didn't have a whole lot of choice. Dipper hung up the call and she set the phone down on her chest again so she could rest.

It was… it was kinda getting hard to stay awake. Her eyes dropped dangerously closed again and she could feel sleep wanting to draw her back in. Her phone rang again to _This is Cray-cray_ and her eyes snapped back open. She lifted the phone up once more and tapped at the answer icon. It was kinda hard to see the screen, it was getting all blurry.

"I just called the local paramedics," said Dipper. She felt confused, why wasn't he coming himself, why wasn't he on his way here right now? "We're headed to the airport right now." She smiled at him, but he frowned. "Mabel, we were in New York," he said flatly. She didn't quite understand what he had just told her. His words felt slow in her brain. "I'm in New York right now! _We_ were in New York together, Mabel. Just minutes ago. You vanished right in front of my eyes as we were taking the elevator up to our hotel room."

They… they had been… in New York? Like, on the other side of the country, New York? That didn't make sense because Gravity Falls wasn't anywhere near that place… why would they be. Her eyes started to drift closed again.

"MABEL!" shouted Dipper. Her eyes snapped open again, she lifted the phone that had been dropping back down to her chest. "You have to stay awake! You can't fall asleep, look at me, talk to me. Say my name! Just stay awake! Help's on the way!"

"Dipper," she whispered, her voice felt so weak. Her body wanted sleep so badly.

"Focus on me Mabel, listen to me," cried Dipper through their video chat. She tried to nod but that just made her head swim so she stopped. "This is all my fault! I thought if we went someplace far away for vacation this year that - that you wouldn't…"

She felt a dull pang of hurt in her heart as her brother said it. Finally, her stupid brain put it all together. They hadn't wanted her to come back this year. Dipper and Bel had deliberately gone someplace far away, in hopes that she wouldn't return. Hot tears began to run down her face.

This world wasn't a fantasy, this world was a nightmare, a curse! It was a world where her own brother didn't want to see her. Where he traveled as far away as he could.

"Mabel, don't cry! I didn't mean for it to sound like that," said Dipper. "Please you need to-"

Mabel hit the end call button and dropped her phone onto the floor. Instantly it began to ring again. _Yooooo, Brother! There's a-_ She pushed the ignore button on the side. It went silent for a brief moment. Then it started again: _Yooooo, brother! T-_ She pressed ignore again. _Yooooo-_ Mabel hurled her phone across the room and into the wall, where it shattered.

She lay there on the floor sobbing as the darkness crept into the edges of her eyes.

* * *

Muffled voices spoke about her as she bumped back and forth. Her eye half opened to the sound. She could see the swirls of sweater town above her. She felt dazed and confused. She still hurt but now she couldn't move her body at all, it was like she was tied down or something.

A bright light shined into her eyes and words came with it, garbled and hard to understand. She was being lifted or carried or something. She was on something. It stopped moving and people were saying more words around her, a man was leaning over her, strapping something onto her face.

There was a high pitched siren in the background, wailing away. She… she had been here once before, only days ago… after… after Dipper...

This was wrong, this was all wrong. It wasn't supposed to be like this, she was supposed to be in New York with her brother and… and someone else. No. She… what? Her thoughts were all fuzzy. Strange images of memories she didn't have bled across her brain. She saw things that she hadn't done, that hadn't happened. Then she didn't see anything.

* * *

The next time Mabel opened her eyes, she was laying in a hospital bed, feeling a strange floating sensation. She blinked slowly, not really understanding how she had gotten here. Her body didn't hurt anymore but she certainly didn't feel like herself. She couldn't actually feel most of herself. Her whole body was numb, except for her left arm.

There was a tightness in her hand that her befuddled brain couldn't reason out. Her eye slipped down her arm and a surge of adrenaline rushed through her.

Dipper was asleep next to her. He was holding her hand tightly, his head resting face down on the bed beside her leg. She smiled sadly at him and squeezed his hand. She tried to lift her right arm to touch his hair but she felt a twinge of pain as she tried.

Her eyes moved off Dipper and onto the other side of her body. Her right forearm had been set in a cast. There was also some kind of brace on her shoulder so that she couldn't move the arm.

What the heck had happened to her? And where had Dipper come from?

"Dipper," she whispered. Her brother didn't stir. She tried to tug her hand out of his but he was holding her too tightly. "Dipper," she said again, trying to wake him.

"I thought I lost you," came his muffled voice. As he spoke he turned his head to look up at her. He was crying. "I'm so stupid! I'm an idiot, Mabel!" If she could have said something other than his name, she would have agreed with him. Maybe even called him some other choice words too.

Before she could call him anything though (as if she could), he did something wholly unexpected. He lunged forward and for a moment she thought he was going to kiss her. At the last second he turned his head to the side and hugged her tightly instead. She returned the embrace with one arm.

"Sorry," he muttered, pulling back. "I just… I forgot that…" he trailed off into silence but he was still clutching her hand. "We got the first flight back. I told them it was an emergency. I spent all of our vacation money to get here. This is all my fault." Mabel tried to smile at him but failed. She wasn't sure how to feel right now.

"The doctors have no idea what happened," explained Dipper. "It's like you fell twenty stories out of the sky. They found you passed out in the attic of the Mystery Shack. Your arm and both legs broken. Your shoulder dislocated. You have four fractured ribs, a punctured lung…" Dipper trailed off as he saw her face turn white. "You were in surgery for almost twelve hours…"

Dipper looked down at his arm holding onto Mabel. Her eyes followed and she could see his watch there. Eleven fifty nine.

"You woke up just in time for me to say goodbye," said Dipper with a sad smile. "I'm sorry you had such an awful visit this year. I'll make it up to you n-"


	7. Chapter 7 - The Treasure

Sweater Town

Chapter 7 – The Treasure

By Starwin

* * *

Mabel gasped awake, sucking in air like she had forgotten how to breathe. She couldn't feel her right arm and she couldn't move her legs at all. She struggled as panic raced through her brain. Something terrible had happened to her. They had gotten her to a hospital but it must have been too late! She had lost the use of her arm, and both her legs and -

Thrashing wildly, she toppled out of bed and onto the floor. Instantly she felt pins and needles in her right, useless, arm. She recognized the sensation, her arm was asleep. She was a pretty active sleeper and rolling onto her arm in a funny way wasn't that unusual.

She struggled to sit up and found that her blankets were tangled around her legs, which was why she hadn't been able to move them. She shuffled her feet around and, after a brief moment of untangling - made more difficult by the fact her right arm was still asleep - she finally freed herself.

Sitting on her floor, slightly out of breath, she looked around her room. She was back. She was okay. It was just another dream in sweater town. Although it had been the worst one so far.

Mabel patted her chest. She was still in her shooting star sweater. She looked down and frowned. She was still in that ugly black dress too. Okay, it wasn't really ugly, she just didn't like wearing all black. Why hadn't she changed?.

Hurriedly she pulled off the sweater, then the dress, then everything else until she was naked. She tugged her sheets back onto her bed and crawled under them, not bothering to put anything on. She spread out on her back underneath, feeling the soft cloth across her body. Sensation had almost come back to her arm now and her legs were doing much better.

What she really needed was a bath. Not because she was dirty - well, okay, she hadn't taken a shower yesterday, so, she was a little dirty - but that wasn't the point! Showers could get you clean but baths could sooth your soul. Right now she needed some soul soothing very much. Besides, it had been forever since she had taken a super hot bubble bath.

Of course, taking a bath meant using the one in her parents' room. Which would mean she would have to ask for permission, which was something she couldn't do. Well, she would just have to figure it out as she went. Maybe she would use some hand signals or something.

Once more she got out of bed, although with much less falling this time. She scavenged her room for a bath towel but couldn't find one. With a sigh, she just pulled on one of her big nightshirts and made her way down the hallway towards her parents' room.

The door was open, a sign that they were awake. She hadn't checked to see what time it was, maybe it was late enough in the day they were downstairs having breakfast or something?

Lightly, she knocked on the door, poking her head into the large room. There was no one inside. She also noticed that the door to the bathroom was also open.

Okay, well, that made the first part of asking permission way easier because she wasn't going to ask. She crossed the room and entered the bathroom. In a few more steps she stopped in front of the huge bathtub. It was a mini jacuzzi with jets and everything. Her dad had wanted to get it a few years back and her mother had relented, not with much arguing if Mabel remembered correctly.

She shut the bathroom door behind her. Then she turned on the faucet and made sure the hot was as high as it would go. Her mother had a selection of bath gels, soaps, salts, spa formulas and other things, lined up along the rim of the tub. Mabel found the one she was looking for pretty quickly.

Strawberry bubble bath was her preference. She had a couple bottles of the stuff in her and - in her bathroom. Like an idiot, she had forgotten to bring any of them with her. Her mom's favorite was lavender scented bubble bath. It proclaimed it was good for the skin and blah-blah-blah, stuff that Mabel didn't believe. Lavender wasn't her favorite but it was fine.

The bottle recommended she add a capful. She added four capfuls, this was a multi-cap bubble day. In no time at all the water was frothing with foam and the tub was nearly full.

She did consider tying up her hair. She had a lot of hair and it took forever to dry when it got wet. But she was too eager to get into that hot bubbly tub. She could contend with wet hair.

Yanking off her nightshirt, she dipped a foot in. It was HOT! She pulled her soapy leg back out and she could see her bright red skin between the suds. She pushed her whole leg in, swung the rest of her body onto the edge of the tub and stuck her other leg in.

She loved hot water, the hotter the better. After all, she always had a sweater on. She had even contemplated making a bath sweater but after many failed designs she had abandoned the idea. Being hot was nothing new to her. Hot, was like getting a super warm hug. Hot, was like being tingly all over. Hot, was like feeling joy.

She slipped the rest of the way into the tub. Then quickly scrambled to turn off the faucet, forgetting that her scrawny body would displace so much water. The overflow valves sucked down the surface bubbles as quickly as they could. Even still, a bit splashed up over the edge.

She waited for the tub to adjust to the proper water level then she slid lower into the water. She let her shoulders, neck and bottom half of her face right up to her nose, submerge. Even with the top half of her head above the surface, the bubbles almost completely hid her from view. If someone came in right now all they would see was the top of her head. It was like she was in bubble town. And she loved it.

She sighed contentedly through her nose. Yes, she had totally needed this after the day she had just had. Or, night, or nightmare? And the day? BLARGH! Everything about yesterday had been so horrible! Even sweater town, which was supposed to be her escape, had turned into the worst hours of her life.

Under the water, she rubbed her belly and chest, feeling for the injuries she had sustained in her dream. Much to her surprise, her hands rubbed against bandaids. Silently she cursed herself. She hadn't taken off any of the bandages before getting in the tub. That was going to be a soggy mess she would have to clean up after.

Her hands moved to the rest of her tender body, the hot water making her skin a lot more sensitive to her touch. She traced the scabs on her elbows. She felt the rough raw skin where she had bruised her right shoulder when she had hit the asphalt. For just a little fall it sure had left a lot of painful reminders. She briefly wondered if any of them were going to leave scars on her. She hoped they would, so she would never forget.

Her injuries confirmed and lacking at the same time, her hands traveled elsewhere. To her chest that, while not flatter than the flattest flat thing, still was little more than bumps. They also traveled downwards to the place that still felt odd and uncomfortable to touch.

The hot water was doing other things to her body, things she had only recently discovered her body could do. She hadn't done it often, because, well, she had shared a room with her brother all summer long. And privacy for such things was pretty much unheard of. And right now she really, really needed to feel good.

It wasn't like she was embarrassed about it. Okay, no that was a lie, she was totally embarrassed about it. But it was natural, it was right, everyone did it, even Dipper.

Her hand stopped. Her thoughts tumbled out of control and she recalled the end of her dream about sweater town. She could remember the fear and sadness in his face as Dipper had looked at her. It was an expression she knew too well. It was how she looked whenever she thought about him now.

Why had she thought about Dipper? That had made her feel - feel - BLARGH.

Her brain flashed back to the time they had spent in their underwear at the waterfall. They had been almost naked, no, they had been naked, just feet away from each other. And while they hadn't really spent time looking, they had looked. And it had been super weird.

She wrapped her arms around herself and blew bubbles in the water. Yeah, okay, thinking about her brother had completely killed the mood for her. She totally loved her goofball brother, just… just not like that.

Okay, okay, her brain was making too much noise for her. She needed a distraction. Her hand fumbled at the edge of the tub and she found the controls that turned on the air jets. The little nozzles hummed to life and she felt the blast of air tickle her back and legs. She giggled, it felt sooooooooo good.

The bubbles frothed even more, stirred by the new current in the tub. With a deep breath, Mabel completely submerged herself. She spun slowly to her side, floating a little awkwardly as she did, and let the jets blast her all over.

Unfortunately she couldn't stay under forever. She was forced to surface, spitting out soapy water as she did. She giggled again. She had forgotten how much she loved baths.

* * *

After an hour or so the water started to get cold. It had been lukewarm for the past thirty minutes but now there was a chill to it. She had also switched off the jets, which had been fine to start but had started to just feel uncomfortable. The bubbles were almost all gone and her skin was starting to feel pruney too.

With a sigh, she pulled the drain and carefully climbed out of the tub, stealing her mom's towels. She dried herself and wrapped a second towel around her hair. Once the water had emptied she collected all the bandages that had come off in the tub and tossed them into the bin. A quick once over in the mirror and she decided that new bandages probably weren't needed anymore.

She made her way back to her room, wrapped in a towel and carrying her rolled up nightshirt under her arm. Her parents still didn't seem to be around. Without really considering it, she called out for her mom.

"Dipper!" she shouted. Mabel stopped. DARN IT! Why had she done that! She had known that's what was going to happen but she just hadn't bothered to think. Even still, no response came. She obviously hadn't expected her brother to reply. Although, she really hoped her brother would have answered her and this whole nightmare could be over.

The house remained silent. She returned to her room and got dressed. She chose a rainbow sleeved sweater before heading downstairs. Downstairs was quiet too. Waddles was asleep on his pillow but otherwise the living room was empty. The kitchen was empty as well. In fact, every room in the entire house, even the guest bathroom that just had a toilet and sink, was empty. Where the heck was everyone?

A terrible thought ran through her head that her dream from last night had come true. Everyone had abandoned her! She was completely alone. Her hand flew to her pocket looking for her phone.

She shook her head. She didn't have a cell phone and Dipper was never going to call her on it even if she had.

Felling a little put out, she went back to her room but stopped as she spotted the note stuck to her door. She had missed it when returning from her bath. Not surprising as it had blended in with the posters and drawings she had covered her door with. She pulled the note off and read it.

 _Your Dad went into work this morning._

 _I'm off running errands._

 _Will be home around 6PM._

 _Lunch in the fridge._

 _\- Love Mom._

So, they had kind of left her home alone. Not like they hadn't before. She and Dipper had spent many days left alone at home. Besides, it wasn't as if she had been planning to spend the day with her parents. In fact ever since - since Dipper had - since he had gone, she had hardly seen either of them. Yesterday had been the most time she had spent with her parents since the accident.

Mabel balled up the note and tossed it towards her trash bin. It plunked off the side and joined the heap of other missed throws. She pulled off her rainbow sweater and flung it towards her closet. It landed next to the black dress she had yanked off that morning. She snatched up her shooting star sweater and held it in front of her.

If she was being honest with herself, she was avoiding going back to her fantasy world. She had almost hoped her mom would be there to whisk her away to something else today. She even, almost (but not really), had hoped she would be forced to return to school.

Instead, she was alone in the house, with a sweater to another world and nothing else to do. She pulled the garment over her head. Sweater town it was.

* * *

When Mabel arrived in sweater town this time, she braced herself for the worst. However, the worst didn't come. Quite the opposite in fact. It was the softest arrival she had ever felt.

She landed in her camp bed, except, it was vastly different than she remembered. It was larger, softer. There was a nest of comfy warm pillows of different shapes and sizes piled all around her. She wasn't tired but she could have stayed in bed forever. She smiled contentedly and snuggled deeper into the pillows.

Her eyes opened just a tiny bit to take a look around the room. What she saw woke her fully and she sat upright with a start. Dipper was sitting right in front of her bed, looking right at her, as if he had been watching her sleep. Her brother smiled.

"Hey, Other Mabel," he said softly.

She froze. He... already knew? How could he possibly know? She glanced at her surroundings, focusing mostly on the bed. She hadn't been wrong about it feeling different. It was larger, big enough for her to completely stretch out on. Pillows had been piled all around her, along with stuffed animals. Her hand reached out for one of the fluffy unicorns and pulled it to her. It felt so fluffy. She hugged it protectively to her.

"So, this might be a strange question," continued Dipper when she didn't respond. "How are your legs doing?" Her… legs? Mabel stretched them out over the bed, nearly whacking her brother in the process. They felt fine. In fact, her whole body felt fine… although, for some reason she didn't think it should have.

"Good, good, just making sure," muttered Dipper with a nod. And an expression she wasn't exactly sure of crossed his face. Relief? No, it was more like sur-mazement. "You took kind of a tumble last year and I just wanted to make sure everything was okay." Oh, right… last year. It had been a year for this world but just hours for her. She felt her body shudder involuntarily at the memory. She hugged the stuffed unicorn tighter.

Dipper smiled before he turned away and reached down for something. Her eyes followed and she saw him reaching for his laptop. However, at the last second he seemed to change his mind and grabbed the thing sitting next to it instead. It looked like a ball of orange and yellow fluff. He placed the item in his lap.

"So, I know you had a pretty shitty time last year," she frowned at him and he seemed to get what she was thinking, for once. "Sorry, my Mabel doesn't like it when I swear either. Anyhow, you might have noticed I've been expecting you." She nodded. "We've actually all been expecting you." She wasn't sure what he meant by 'all.' All as in like the whole town or…

" _My_ Mabel and I had a long chat about what to do," said Dipper, "Because you were obviously going to be back this year and, well, we didn't want a repeat of last year.

"Mabel… she was in the hospital for three weeks after…" Dipper trailed off. She felt a terrible pang of guilt about whatever it was that had happened the last time. He shook his head. "It's not your fault, it's mine. Look, that doesn't matter. We decided that what you needed, was some adventure."

Oh, she liked the sound of that! She had missed going on adventures with her brother, she had really only been on the one since she had come to this place.

"How would you - " said Dipper, finally unrolling the yellow and orange ball in his lap. Mabel realized it was a rolled up sweater, she gasped as she saw what was sewn into it. " - like to meet a dragon?"

* * *

Their bags were already packed. Apparently Bel had done it last night. Mabel also noticed that she was fully dressed too. Dipper had been waiting for her, so it was only natural that Bel had been as well.

Soon they were making their way downstairs, Mabel feeling happier than she had felt in, well, in since forever! Chatting voices reached her ears as they came off the stairs. When they entered into the kitchen she felt her eyes widen and her heart skip a beat. Both of her Great Uncles were here, sitting at the table and chatting pleasantly with Soos and Melody and - Mabel let out a squeal of delight that brought the conversation to a halt.

Sitting in Melody's lap was an adorable little girl who couldn't be more than a year old. She had big beautiful brown eyes and short curly brown hair.

Mabel ran past everyone else, right to Melody, bouncing up and down in front of her excitedly. Melody smiled at her.

"Good morning, Other Mabel," said Melody brightly, bouncing the little girl up and down on her knee. "Meet our daughter, Abigail Mabel Ramieraz." Mabel felt the biggest smile she'd ever had spread across her face. She smooshed in her cheeks trying to hold back the scream of excitement. "Do you want to hold her?"

Did she want to hold her? DID SHE WANT TO HOLD HER? Mabel almost felt her brain explode at the question. Of course she did!

Her arms lept out ready to receive the gift of an incredibly adorable little girl. Soos' baby, a baby they had named after her!

Carefully, Melody handed the toddler to Mabel, who wrapped her up in her arms. She looked so adorable! The little girl reached out and put a hand on Mabel's face. They both giggled.

"We call her Abby for short," said Soos as Mabel bounced the little girl in her arms. "Having two Mabel's around gets a little confusing, but I guess you would know all about that, huh?" Mabel heard Dipper let out a groan and saw him drop his forehead into his palm.

Mabel looked into the little girl's face. Abby huh? That was a cute name. She liked it a lot.

"She really adores you," said Melody, and there was a sort of sadness in her voice that Mabel didn't understand. Nor did she miss the very quick glance Melody gave Dipper. Her brother gave a little cough.

"We should really get ready to head out, we have a long hike ahead of us," said Dipper.

Carefully, Mabel handed the girl back to Melody. Abby's face instantly changed from delight to unhappiness. She began to scream at the top of her lungs, reaching out her tiny little hands for Mabel. Mabel knelt down and gave the little girl another hug, which Abby returned exuberantly, her crying instantly stopping. It felt so right, Mabel never wanted to let her go but they had things to do today. At last she managed to pull away and Abby started to cry again. Melody did her best to calm her little girl but Abby was having none of it.

"I think someone is ready for a nap," said Melody, looking a little worn out. Before she left, she gave Mabel a hug and Abby practically lept into the hug as well. Once they broke apart, Mabel had to untangle the little fingers from her hair. Melody left the room with Abby wailing in her arms.

Breakfast was ready for them and beyond all hope, there were strawberry pancakes. Mabel let out a second, almost as loud as the first, squee at the sight of her favorite breakfast food. Everyone chatted while they ate. Mabel just listened and gobbled down her strawberry drenched pancakes.

Apparently, things were still going well at the Mystery Shack. Soos was going to interview some people today to take over as full time handymen. They also talked about someone named Carl, that Mabel didn't know. Dipper whispered to her that he was the teen working the register in the giftshop this year. Mabel nodded.

She also picked up that their Great Uncles weren't living at the Mystery Shack anymore. She hadn't gotten a lot of information about them from previous visits but it sounded like they had moved out a couple years ago, days ago for her. They still seemed to live in Gravity Falls though.

"Hey, I asked Great Uncle Ford to come with us on this adventure," explained Dipper, as Mabel whittled down the last of her pancakes. "You haven't gotten to spend a lot of time with either Uncle during your visits. I hope it's okay?" She nodded, the three of them on an adventure sounded like fun. She wondered why Stan wasn't coming too but a quick once over told her mostly what she needed to know.

Stan had gotten old. In truth, every person at the table was older, herself included. While Ford was older as well, he still seemed to be in excellent shape. Grunkle Stan had never been in great shape but time seemed to have only made the issue worse.

At last, breakfast finished, Dipper hurried them to the door, but stopped her just before they left.

"Just a second," said Dipper. "Hey, you don't have your phone on you, do you?" Mabel blinked. What? She didn't have a phone. Oh, but Bel did. She searched her skirt pockets but didn't find a phone. She shook her head. "Good, I promised Mabel we wouldn't break it this year. Just wanted to make sure we didn't bring it along and have a dragon eat it or something," laughed Dipper. She smiled at him and he grabbed her hand, pulling her out the door.

They followed Ford out onto the trail. About ten minutes into the hike, Dipper pulled up alongside her. She smiled. She missed this so much. Her and Dipper used to walk everywhere, or ride bikes. It was routine, normal, just something they did to get places. Or rather it had been. Now it was something special, each moment a precious memory she could never experience again. She wouldn't let even a moment of it slip past - Oh shoot! Was Dipper talking to her?

"- been talking about you," said Dipper. Mabel tried to recall what she had missed so far, but, she had missed it. She just gave him a quizzical look. How had they been talking about her…? "She - Original Mabel - " Mabel stuck out her tongue, " - yes, I know, thank you. She thinks you should know more about our lives. I told her you were here so you already know about us but Original Mabel insisted that isn't enough. So," he held up his phone for her to see.

"This year was the second year of college for us," said Dipper. The image on his phone was of him and Mabel standing in front of a large school like building. "We didn't end up going to the college Mabel found, but we still ended up here in Oregon. This is our school, Oregon University of Theatrical Film and Impractical Science."

He swiped through the images as he talked. Some of them were of him and Mabel together. Some were of other people and other places she didn't recognize.

"So after that, uh video," Dipper explained. "You know, the one with me… picking my nose…" Mabel let out a snort of giggles, she did indeed remember the video. "Our channel really took off. So you and I decided we would go into media production full time. Both of us are working on our film degrees." She smiled at that, it sounded like fun! "And both of us are also doing a second major as well. I'm working on theoretical physics - "

"Although, I've already proved a lot of it isn't theoretical," Ford chimed in.

"Yeah, he is partly why I'm working on it," said Dipper with a nod. "You're also studying to become a veterinarian." Mabel felt her eyes widen just a bit. That wasn't something she had ever considered. "After Waddles… left us, you made a vow to save every piggy life that you could." She felt both sad and proud at the same time. Her pet pig had inspired her to save the lives of other animals. Yes, that was something she would do.

Dipper was still flipping through pictures as he talked, again, not explaining most of the pictures, just giving her some images of the life she had missed over the past year. She sort of wished he would go back to the start, to the end of middle school, to high school, to everything else she knew nothing about.

Actually, it was odd that this was the first time it had come up. They knew about her, for at least the last couple of visits. And if she was Mabel - she shook her head - she was, she would have left a message for herself already. A record of some kind, to catch her up on all she had missed.

"Our school is only a thirty minute drive from here," continued Dipper, his hand swiping into the next set of images. "So, we just kinda live at the Mystery Shack year round now. It's cheaper than renting something closer."

Mabel smiled knowing that later in life they had chosen to return to sharing a room. She also noticed that 'Dipper's' half was covered in discarded clothing. He still didn't know how to pick up after himself. Her side of the room was slightly cleaner, and she could see stuffed animals on her bed.

"Last year, our first year, we took mostly the same classes together," continued Dipper. "We still share a lot of the film classes, although you are going more towards writing and editing, which you're really good at. While I am working more on the acting and directing side. But we don't have every class together, which is okay." He continued swiping.

"This is our van, we use it to go adventuring," explained Dipper. There were images of a, not in the best shape, old-ish brown van. One side had been painted with the words Mystery Pines Twins Adventures in bold red letters. "You wanted to paint a lot more onto it but I was able to talk you down to just our logo." She smiled at that.

"This is your current boyfriend, Matt" said Dipper, catching her completely off guard as he pointed to the blond haired, pretty good looking, boy sitting next to her in the image. There were actually a bunch of people, both men and women, sitting around a largish table, drinks (that Mabel suspected might be alcohol, how old was she again, nineteen?) in hand and smiling at the camera. The boy sitting next to her in the image had his arm around her shoulders. "He's a pretty nice guy. I think it's been three months for him, so, he currently holds the dating record with you." She gave Dipper an affectionate shove.

More pictures of people she didn't know washed by as Dipper talked about their friends and people they had met. She tried to take it all in but it was so much information that it was all a bit overwhelming. There was so much she wanted to know about herself and these images told her so little.

She also wanted to know more about her future heartthrob, Matt. Apparently he was the one she was destined for! Oddly though, while he was in other pictures, Dipper didn't really say a lot more about him.

At last, Dipper wound down his wrap up of the past year talking about the last few days in Gravity Falls.

"-anyhow," said Dipper, "We knew you were going to show up again this year. It was actually Mabel that put the dates together. She figured out that you always arrive on the next day of the next year, always corresponding with the date. Like this year, June 19th, 2019. And Next year, June 20th, 2020."

Mabel stopped walking, her brain slamming into a wall. 2020? She… she had never really stopped to consider it before. So little changed in the world around her. Sure, her body had been growing and getting weird (less so these past few times where she had stayed mostly the same, although, she really hadn't had the chance to check). but she had never considered the rest of the world. Or, how it had changed.

Her eyes locked on the phone Dipper was using to show her the images. It was very thin, with an amazing display now that she was looking for it, and it had a highly polished glass surface. In fact, except for the black body, the whole thing seemed to be made of glass or something.

What else had changed? Did they finally have flying cars? How about transporters? Or houses on the moon? Could she go to the moon?! No, of course not, that was silly. She only had a day here and she couldn't leave Gravity Falls. Plus, something like that was probably really expensive.

"Mabel? Hello, Earth to Mabel," said her brother, waving a hand in front of her face and interrupting her thoughts. She realized she hadn't been listening to him. She smiled apologetically. "I guess it might be a lot for you to take in."

"Or a lot to re-experience," said Ford from ahead of them. "Dipper and I have had many a debate about where it is you come from. I say the far flung future, traveling back into your past as I once did! Dipper thinks you're from an alternate reality, parallel to our own but different." She noticed that Dipper was blushing slightly. "So are either of us right?" She shrugged. "Huh, not as satisfying an answer as I had hoped."

"Yeah, that tends to be the case," said Dipper with a smile at her.

"Anyhow. We're here," said Ford, coming to a stop at the edge of the forest. It wasn't so much the forests edge as it was where the trees met a near vertical cliff side. Mabel looked up at the dizzying wall of stone that blocked their path. "Jetpacks are the fastest way for us to get to the top," Mabel's eyes lit up with excitement. JETPACKS! YOU HAD TO BE KIDDING! "Unfortunately, I didn't bring them, as they have a tendency to explode." Okay, jetpacks had been a bit too much to hope for, what was this anyhow, a fantasy… the future… what was she expecting?

Mabel pulled off her piggyback-backpack. It was looking a little worse for wear than she remembered. She must have had it a while now. She fished inside and found exactly what she was looking for. She yanked out her grappling hook and held it aloft.

"A good idea, sweet-heart," said Ford. "But I was thinking of something a little more... clingy." He pulled from his own pack three pairs of futuristic looking boots. He handed a pair of them to Mabel. "These are a gift from an old friend I met while I was lost between universe. He called them Grappling shoes and I think you will find them extremely efficient at scaling unscalable walls."

She slipped out of her shoes and tucked them away in her pack. She put on the shiny metal shoes. They were pretty comfortable, but she didn't see how they were going to help her climb up the sheer wall in front of them.

"Don't forget to turn them on," said Ford, pressing a button on the side. His shoes hummed. Then he took a step and much to her surprise, her Great Uncle began to walk right up the cliff face.

"Pretty cool, right?" said Dipper, giving her a nudge. She nodded. "Alright, time to get started!" She noticed that Dipper had gotten his camera out at some point. She also noticed it was a much fancier looking camera than before. Dipper bumped up next to her so that he could get both their faces in frame for the shot.

"Adventure 19-132, The Dragon!" said Dipper. "Me, my sister Mabel and our Great Uncle Ford are about to climb up this unscalable cliff face behind us, using his grappling shoes." Dipper moved the camera around as he spoke, pointing it to different things.

"They aren't my grappling shoes," called Ford. "I told you, I got them from a friend."

"Alright, just, grappling shoes," said Dipper. "Mabel, would you like to do the honors of showing us how they work." She smiled. She pressed the button on the side, just like Ford had done, turned, and placed her foot on the wall. When she lifted her other foot off the ground, her first boot stayed put. As she took a step, the whole world suddenly flipped over and she was walking up the wall, following after her Uncle.

It was the strangest thing she had experienced. Okay, no, that wasn't right, maybe like the sixth strangest thing? Weirdmageddon was still like a hard number one weirdest thing ever. And Sweater town was maybe a close number two. Still, this was really weird, but a fun sort of weird. It reminded her a little bit of upside down town, the place they had visited while pranking other attractions last summer.

Her hair flowed out behind her and when she looked left or right it was easy to forget she was walking perpendicular to the ground. Stranger still was the fact that the sky was still a giant sweater for her, so it was like she was walking into a sweater tunnel.

"Hey, Mabel!" called her brother. She looked left to see Dipper walking up the wall beside her, waving as he filmed her. "This is pretty cray-cray, right!" She nodded, a huge smile on her face.

"Watch your step up here, there are some big cracks," Ford warned them.

They easily avoided the minor hazards of the rocks as they continued to ascend, Dipper talking to the camera as they went ever higher. She was surprised that walking right up the side of a cliff didn't take more effort. She thought for sure it would be as difficult as climbing at the very least, but actually, it just felt like she was walking on flat ground, minus the strange backwards (really downwards) pull she constantly felt.

After a few minutes of their vertical hike, Ford vanished up over the lip of some unseen ledge. Mabel and Dipper caught up with him and in one big step, her body whipped around to be standing on flat, non vertical ground, once more.

They were outside a deep, dark, enormous cave, cut into the rock. They were also, as she glanced around at the forest far below, really, really high up.

Hot air seemed to be streaming out of the hole in the rock and a low rumble reached her ears. It almost sounded like snoring.

"Go ahead and switch off your grappling shoes for now," said Ford. "And try to keep your voices down, dragons are easily startled. Also, all those stories about them being able to breathe fire are true." He reached back into his bag and pulled out what seemed to be a spray can. "This is a fireproofing spray I came up with." He began to spray himself all over. The mist left a shiny coat across his face and clothes. "It will keep you from getting burned incase we do get engulfed in flames, but it will still hurt like heck, so, try not to get breathed on." He sprayed Dipper, who closed his eyes and did a little spin. Then Ford turn to her. "It also rinses right off in water. Close your eyes and try not to inhale any of it. This stuff will coat your insides and you'll have to go non-stop for a week!"

She closed her eyes and held her breath as Ford sprayed her. It was a little tingly but it didn't feel bad. She did a little spin, so that her Uncle could coat her whole body.

"There we go, we should now be fireproof… ish," said their Uncle, putting the spray can back in his pouch. "Now, dragons aren't usually big fans of visitors, so, keep your voices low and stay close." He pulled out a flashlight and clicked it on.

Dipper also produced a strap-on headlamp, which he turned on as well. A quick search of her own bag revealed a headlamp of her own. It was the same one she had used the last time, the kitty shaped one that could change colors. She put it on but didn't play with the colors this time.

Together, the three of them headed into the dark. Ford leading the way, Mabel in the middle and Dipper taking up the rear, video camera recording every moment. She half expected her brother to be commenting with every step but he seemed to be taking the stay quiet thing very seriously.

A strange thought ran through Mabel's head. This was the second time she had gone on an adventure in sweater town and the second time she had found herself in a cave. Although, this cave was far bigger than the previous one. And their method of entry had been WAY less embarrassing this time.

She didn't feel anywhere near as awkward in her own body. What the heck had happened to her the last time? Dipper still hadn't told her.

She had also gotten cut up pretty bad in the previous cave. Yet, when she had returned home at the end of… of whatever this was, all she had found were the injuries she had from before. But what about Bel? She tried to think back, to remember. It was just days ago, but it felt like years. It was years in this place.

Mabel ran a hand over her elbow. Her skin felt smooth and soft and she could feel the small bump of the bone below. What she couldn't feel was a scab or even a faint scar. Her injuries from the real world didn't apparently come through with her into sweater town. But if she got hurt here, Bel would have to deal with the consequences. Wouldn't she? Everything about her body felt fine, as near as she could tell. Still… this was dangerous, wasn't it? She was about to face a fire breathing dragon.

Which begged the question, what the heck was she doing going into a cave with a fire breathing dragon?! She could get seriously hurt, injured or even… she felt a shiver run down her spine. What would happen if something worse happened while she was here? No! She shook her head. No, she wasn't going to even think about that.

"Mabel," Dipper whispered from over her shoulder, she almost let out a scream but managed to clamp her hands over her mouth at the last second. "Are you alright? Do you want to turn back?"

It was dark so it was hard to see his face but he looked very concerned. She thought about it for a moment. She wanted to keep going. They were doing this for her. And there was the promise of a dragon at the end. Mabel shook her head and grabbed her brother's shoulder confidently. Dipper seemed to understand and nodded back to her.

Then, to her surprise, he offered her his hand. She felt confused. Dipper HATED holding hands with her, it always embarrassed him. She took it with a grateful smile and gave it a squeeze. He squeezed her back and she instantly felt at ease. There could be a fire breathing dragon at the end of this cave and she would have all the courage in the world to face it down with her brother at her side. She remembered there actually was a fire breathing dragon at the end of the cave.

"We're getting close now," whispered Ford from ahead of them. "Feel that hot air, taste that sulfur. It won't be far now."

They continued on. It was getting hotter, a lot hotter and Dipper's palms were starting to sweat. She was starting to sweat too. Her sweater was making it really hot for her. She was almost tempted to take off her dragon sweater. But first, it was a dragon sweater, there was no way she wasn't going to be wearing it when she met a dragon. Secondly, and this was probably the more important part, it had been sprayed with fireproofing and if she took it off she would be a lot less fireproof.

A bright orange light filled the tunnel ahead of them and she didn't need to hear the whispered words of "he should be just up ahead" from her Uncle. They rounded the corner. She felt her heartbeat increase in her chest. Her grip tightened on her brother's hand.

The room in front of them was enormous. Molten rock flowed in a moat around a central island piled high with more gold than she had ever seen in her life. However, there didn't seem to be a dragon. Her eyes swept the cave, looking for the faintest hint of the mythical creature anywhere.

"There it is," whispered Ford, waving his hand at the pile of gold. She squinted, but all she could see was a mound of golden coins. She tilted her head to the side and finally, she could see it.

"Where is it?" asked Dipper, holding up the camera with his free hand and moving it around slightly, searching for the dragon that was right in front of him. She couldn't help but smile. Once you saw it, it was so obvious. With her free hand, she reached over and gently grabbed the top of his head. Ever so slightly she tilted him, and the camera, to the side. "Whoa!"

She had realized that it wasn't just a pile of treasure in the middle of the island surrounded by lava. It was the dragon. A dragon that looked just like a pile of treasure. At first its shape was hard to make out, but the more she tilted her head the more she could discern. It was curled up, on it's side, with a wing wrapped around its body. It's scales were shaped like golden coins. Other than looking exactly like a pile of gold, it was just how she had always imagined a dragon would look.

"Dragons are chameleon like, but, instead of blending into their surroundings, they change into the most attractive thing they can, to entice their meals," explained For in a whisper. "We might be fire resistant, but I don't have a spray for claws and teeth… although, something like that would be handy…" he mused to himself. "In any case, spread out and start searching the ground. Dragons shed their scales often, and they have amazing resistant properties to them, like making fireproof sprays."

Great Uncle Ford headed off in one direction, while Dipper motioned for them to go the other way. As there was a sleeping dragon in the middle of the room, she went with Dipper, still clinging to his hand. The two of them made a wide circle around the dragon, staying as far back as they could. This was actually pretty easy, as directly around the dragon was a molten river of lava, and in her sweater, she was, well, sweating quite a lot. Getting any closer to that lava did not appeal to her in the slightest, even if there was a real dragon for her to pet.

Mabel found the first scale. She had expected it to look like gold, just like the dragon, but instead it was almost purplish in color, perhaps a trick of the low light. She handed it to Dipper, who smiled at her and whispered "Good job, Mabes!" giving her a thumbs up before dropping it into a bag he had produced while she wasn't looking. He had also managed to tuck his camera away somewhere. Apparently, he wasn't going to film the part of them picking up scales off the floor.

Despite having so many scales on its body, and the scales not being all that big, around the size of her palm - okay, they were kind of big, not that big relatively speaking - there didn't seem to be that many scales around for them to find. When Dipper and Mabel finally reached the back of the cave, they had only come across a half dozen or so. However, Dipper seemed more than content with their haul as he jostled the bag up and down. He even smiled at her in an impressed way.

They met back up with Ford at the entrance to the lair. The dragon was still asleep behind them, but Mabel could feel its hot breath whisking at her back as it snored.

"I only managed to find one," said Ford in a low voice, holding out the single small scale. "How'd you kids do?"

"Ten!" Dipper cried in a slightly too loud whisper. The dragon snorted and they all froze, then it's deep snores resumed. "Ten of them!" repeated Dipper in a low whisper. "Mabel spotted most of them." She smiled, now realizing that she had indeed, Dipper had walked right past them. "I told you she had a knack for this kind of thing."

"Yes, yes," said Ford, a very slight tone of annoyance in his voice that Mabel recognized as his 'admitting defeat voice.' It was as close as their Great Uncle ever got to saying he was wrong about anything. "We should make our - " Ford began, but suddenly the air was filled with blaring music that echoed off the walls.

 _Don't stop unbelieving! Don't not hold on to that feeling!_ The musical words rang out through the cave as the three of them looked around in panic. Ford and Dipper finally both stared at Mabel who at last realized the the music was coming from her!

She let go of Dipper and her hands ran over her body, searching her pockets but not finding a phone. Then her hand bumped into something in the bottom hem of her sweater that she hadn't noticed before. It was a hidden pocket, and inside it was her phone.

Quickly she yanked it out, her eyes searching for a silent button. It wasn't the same phone as before. It was the same company but a newer model. Which made sense as she had sort of smashed her phone last time. On the screen was an alarm notification. Her hand moved to the silence button but halted. The alarm had a message on it, a message that sent a shiver down her back. A message, from herself.

 _We need to talk._

"Mabel! Shut it off!" shouted Dipper. She didn't move, her eyes just locked on the words. Then her phone was being yanked out of her hands and Dipper quickly switched off the alarm. The cave went deathly silent. Then the growling began.

It was a low rumble inside their bones and made the pebbles on the ground scatter. As one, the three Pines turned and looked behind them at the very angry, very awake, not so much a pile of gold anymore, dragon. It roared and fire spilled out of its mouth.

"Look out!" cried Ford, stepping between the kids and the dragon, his arms spread wide holding his overcoat out to shield them.

Mabel felt the hot flames wash over her, she watched as the walls of the cave in front of them glowed orange and began to drip before solidifying into stone once more. However, despite the heat and fire, they all seemed to be okay, even Ford who had taken the brunt of the blast. Apparently, the fireproofing had worked.

"I think we made him mad," said Dipper, taking a step back, giving Mabel a tug on her arm.

" _Her_ ," corrected Ford, adjusting his glasses. "And we should probably run now." There was no argument to that.

The three of them broke into a sprint. Ford able to keep ahead of them surprisingly well for being in his seventies. Mabel glanced back to see the dragon lumbering along after them, it was not keeping up with them. The cave was too small for it to fly, and on land it wasn't very graceful. Mabel also noticed that it's golden camouflage was gone and it was now purple and polka-dot. She couldn't help but smile at that.

When she looked at her brother, she was surprised to see he wasn't pointing a camera back at the dragon He must have caught her gaze because he looked at her. There wasn't panic in his eyes, but rather excitement. He was enjoying this. Usually she was the one to get a thrill out of the life or death situations they had so often found themselves in over the summer. But she realized that if every summer was like this for him, than he must be pretty used to stuff like this.

"What?" shouted Dipper as they ran. The dragon really was slow, they had pulled pretty far ahead of it now. It breathed fire at them again but fell a few dozen yards short.

Mabel thought how best to respond. At last she had it. Making a circle with her fingers she held it up to her eye, as though she was looking through the viewfinder of a camera, then glanced back towards the dragon. Dipper raised an eyebrow but smiled with understanding.

"Oh! We _are_ filming!" he jerked his thumb back behind him. She was confused for a moment until he changed the angle slightly and she realized he was pointing to his backpack. It was then she finally noticed the StopUnpro camera attached to the top of his backpack, pointing behind him. "We run away from stuff so often it just pays to have a rear mounted camera!" He held a fist up for her to bump, "Your idea by the way. Your words too, actually." She fist bumped him.

At last they reached the cave exit and the perilous drop. However, instead of heading down over the edge their Uncle took a sharp left turn. Mabel and Dipper followed.

"Everyone power on your grappling shoes," Ford instructed. They all did so. "Now follow me!"

He started up the cliff face. Dipper and Mabel shared a confused look but trotted after. They walked right up the sheer wall alongside the cave entrance, their grappling shoes keeping them stuck to the stone. They followed the upper lip of the cave so that they came to stop right in the middle, looking down at the cave entrance below. They heard the dragon roar angrily again, and a blast of flame erupted out of the cave, billowing out into the air.

"Steady," said Ford, kneeling down. Mabel realized what he was about to do. She pushed Dipper down into the same position - despite his confused protest - before taking it herself. "Get ready, and - " the Dragon burst out of the cave, it's wings spreading wide " - JUMP!" Ford switched off his boots and leapt into the air

"WHAT!" cried Dipper, but Mabel had been ready.

With quick hands she turned off Dipper's boots first, then her own a moment later and leapt off the wall, yanking Dipper along with her. The three of them flew through the air, landing with a dull thump on the dragon's back. Ford easily stuck the landing, switching his boots back on as he did. Mabel got one boot to stick and only just managed to brush the on button. Her other foot swung around for a moment as she tried to find her balance with her brother clinging onto her arm. At last she got her footing and her other grapple shoe stuck to the dragon's back.

Dipper hadn't landed feet first at all. Only Mabel clutching to his arm had kept him from possibly sliding off. At last Dipper found his footing and his grapple shoes locked into place.

Just in time too. The dragon did a stomach churning spin and Mabel was glad it had been hours since she had eaten. The boots held them fast and despite its best efforts, the dragon did not toss them off. She beamed at Dipper, thoroughly enjoying herself. Her brother looked a little sick, just barely holding himself back from the brink of puking.

The dragon let out another plume of fire and flew through it. This time Mabel felt the intense heat all over her body. It, didn't hurt, it actually kind of felt nice.

"Alright," shouted Ford. "The dragon should be getting tired of us so, ah, here we go." They began to plummet out of the sky. The dragon wasn't so much as flying downwards as dropping like a stone. "Everyone hang on tight! You know, with your feet! And be ready to release when we hit!" Ford shouted back at them, the wind roaring in Mabel's ears. "The dragon has one last trick to try and knock us off!"

The horizon was bending away and the forest loomed up at them. Gleaming in the middle of the forest was a blue green lake and the dragon was headed right towards it. Mabel braced herself as best she could, which, was to say she shifted her legs for a slightly better stance and gritted her teeth. Dipper, for his part let out a high pitched girly scream.

A few moments later the dragon nose dived into the lake. Ford released first, swimming upwards. Mabel and Dipper pressed their off buttons together, but while Mabel's boots came loose, Dipper's did not. They still had hold of each other's arms. As the dragon continued to dive deeper into the lake it dragged them down with it.

The water began to darken around them. Mabel was pulled along as they plunged into the shadowy depths of the lake. The air in her lungs was starting to burn, but there was no way she was letting go of her brother. She was never going to let go.

The dragon came to an abrupt stop and both she and Dipper slammed into its scaly back. They were so deep down now that the surface was just a distant sparkle high above them. What was she supposed to do? She didn't know how to get out of this, her body was starting to shake from fear and lack of oxygen.

And then her limbs started to move on their own. She swam determinately downwards. She stuck her feet back onto the dragon's back and switched her grappling shoes back on. She was acting on instinct rather than thinking things through, just doing what she needed to do.

The dragon began to swim upwards once more, the water pushed and pulled at the twins, but they stayed tight to the dragon's back. Mabel felt herself kneel. Her hands reached out to the straps on the shoes of her trapped brother and gave them a hard yank. Instantly his foot came free. Quickly she pulled on the other one and his feet slipped out of the shoes completely. Once more she switched off her own grappling shoes just as they broke the surface.

The two of them slid down the scaly back of the ascending beast. They would have been screaming if they hadn't been gasping for air. They splashed down side-by-side as the dragon flew up into the sky behind them, Dipper's grappling shoes still stuck to its back.

"Mabel! That was amazing!" cried Dipper, lunging forward to hug her while they treaded water. "Are you alright?" She nodded excitedly. Adrenaline still pumping through her body. Dipper yanked the camera off his backpack and held it out, pointing it at them. "That concludes Adventure 19-132. Stay away from fire breathing dragons! And be ready to swim if you climb on their backs, who knew?"

"I did," called Ford as he treaded water not far away.

"This is Mabel and - ," said Dipper.

"Dipper," chimed in Mabel with a smile.

"Signing off, see you next adventure!" In the background the dragon let out a perfectly timed indignant roar. "That was amazing! Incredible! Fantastic! I can't believe we road on the back of a dragon!"

"Yes, yes, all very exciting," said Ford as he swam up to them. "We should make our way to shore."

The three of them began the swim towards shore. The lake wasn't huge, but it was still a fair size. Swimming in a sweater wasn't easy work. Mabel struggled to get it off in the water and found the task to be challenging to say the least. However, she was a sweater expert, and finally managed to accomplish the task, with a little help from her brother.

A few minutes later the three of them lay on the warm sand beach, panting slightly from the swim. Mabel wished she had thought to bring a change of clothing as walking home in soaking wet clothes didn't appeal to her. However, she was already starting to dry out.

Actually. She squirmed a little. Her whole body felt oddly hot. Not just from the sun but in a different, more naughty way. It was the same feeling she had whenever she awoke from a dirty dream. Or sometimes when she watched Several Timez videos. Or, how she had felt in the bath this morning.

"Ah man, Mabes," said Dipper from beside her. She was pulled out of her moment and the heat seeped away from her. Her brother sat up, he was holding something in his hands. "Your phone! I totally forgot! I promised you I wouldn't let this happen!"

At first she wasn't sure what he was talking about, but as she saw him press the button on the side and nothing happen, she realized what he meant. Water and electronics usually didn't work well together. Possibly why his boots had malfunctioned.

"We'll get you a new one tomorrow. Again, man, Mabel is going to be so unhappy, hopefully she backed everything up this time."

Mabel nodded, she knew there wouldn't be a tomorrow for her, not this year, but she appreciated the sentiment. Ford on the other hand looked disapprovingly at the phone. Perhaps he just couldn't stand to see such a device go to waste?

Mabel suddenly thought of something else. They had gone into the lake with everything! Even their backpacks! And Dipper always carried his journal in his backpack!

"Dipper!" cried Mabel in alarm, also sitting up. Her brother looked at her, a look of distress in his eyes. She pointed at his backpack, trying her best to convey her thoughts. He stared blankly at her for a long moment. She jabbed her finger at his pack again and he finally seemed to get it.

"Oh, you're worried about my stuff?" he finally asked. She nodded. Dipper smiled. "Nah, don't be. Both cameras are waterproof, and - " he unzipped his bag, sure enough there was a journal inside. However, it looked completely fine, so did everything else. "It's water proof, well, water resistant. Again, we've done this enough times it just made sense. You have no idea how many of our adventures end up with some kind of water hazard… A surprising number of them," he said seriously, as though only now contemplating his own words.

"You waterproofed your piggyback-backpack too," continued Dipper. She let out a squee of excitement as he used the name. Dipper and Ford both winced at the high pitched sound. "And you always make that sound whenever I call it that."

"We should head back to the shack," said Ford, getting up and brushing sand off of himself. "We don't want to miss dinner." At the mention of dinner all three of their stomachs gave a growl and the three Pines burst into laughter. Mabel giggled uncontrollably.

None of them changed. None of them had spare clothing. But the beach had dried them enough that it didn't matter so much. Mabel did however take off her grappling shoes and give them back to Ford. He lamented the loss of Dipper's pair, but agreed it was much better to have Dipper alive rather than some boots he could always replace.

She also took off her socks. The rest of her clothing might be drying out, but squishy socks was not something she wanted to contend with. Besides, being barefoot was AWESOME. Much to her surprise, her brother also stripped off his socks and walked barefoot with her, something he never did. He hated being barefoot. He hated being sockless. But here he was walking right along side her and laughing as she giggled.

They made good time back to the shack, the dragon had politely flown them in the right direction and cut hours off their trip home. When they arrived, Grunkle Stan, along with Soos were finishing up the final tours of the day.

"Dipper, good, you're back," grunted Stan as they entered the gift shop. "You're just in time to help close up for the day."

"But, Mabel - " began Dipper looking at his sister.

"Mabel helped yesterday," said Stan, cutting him off.

"That's not what - " Dipper tried again.

"Help your Uncle," said Ford, cutting him off again. "I need to have a word with your sister anyhow." Dipper's eyes widen uncomfortably and it looked like he wanted to protest, but Stan was already leading him away. Once Dipper was herded off into the other room, Ford turned to look at Mabel.

"I think it's time you and I have a talk, young lady."

* * *

Great Uncle Ford led her to his study. Or, rather, what had been his study. The room had undergone somewhat of a transformation since the last time she had been in it. Of course, to Mabel it would always be the room with that body switching carpet. She let out a shudder. Nope, that was not a day she was ready to relive. The body switching carpet was gone, but that was the smallest of the changes.

New bright and colorful wallpaper had gone up. Desks had been replaced with changing stations and a toy box but at least the small couch remained. In the center of the room was a crib. This wasn't a study anymore, it was a nursery. It was Abby's room.

Her Uncle paused once inside and frowned.

"Ah, right, I forgot this isn't my study anymore," he said, glancing around. "In anycase, it will have to do." He motioned for her to sit on the couch while he closed the door behind them.

She sat right in the middle. He looked around, eventually finding another chair in the room and dragging it over so they could be face to face. This was going to be a serious conversation, she could tell.

He folded his hands under his chin and looked at her. She squirmed under his gaze. She didn't know what it was he wanted to talk to her about, but it couldn't be anything good. She wished Dipper was here.

"So," said Ford softly. "There's a lot I need to tell you, and Mabel Prime agrees with me that you should know." She took a moment to puzzle out what he had just said, but seeing the look of confusion on her face, he explained. "Mabel Prime is the Mabel of this world." She stuck out her tongue at the awful name. "Yes, she's not fond of it either, but we need a way to tell you two apart. You're Mabel Delta by the way," her mouth gaped open, that was even worse! "Yes, yes, but adorable and cute are not descriptive enough. Nor is Other or Original, because we don't know if you really are an othr Mabel, or if she is the original one...

"In any case, that's not the point," continued Ford. "Did Dipper show you the video this morning?" She frowned. He hadn't shown her any video. He had shown her pictures, but no video. Then she remembered when he had almost reached for his laptop, but veered off to grab the sweater instead. The sweater that had contained the hidden cellphone pocket. The phone that had the message ' _We need to talk'_ on it. She shook her head, he had not shown her the video.

Something felt twisted up inside her. Her brother had… lied to her. Not directly but he had omitted something. Something that she wanted herself to know. She felt her head spin a little at that last thought. Why would he do that?

"I'm going to start with the big one first," explained Ford. He took a deep breath, then pointed upwards. "When you look up, you see a sweater above you, correct?" She nodded. Of course he knew. He had written about it in the journal and Dipper must have told him. "And you see tears in it, don't you, getting worse every time you visit." She nodded again. She didn't like where this was going.

"Mabel, it is very likely that you won't be able to return much longer," said Ford. She swallowed hard, but otherwise didn't give any sort of response. "Both myself and Mabel Prime have experienced woolholes before, and both of us recounted how they collapsed on us after a few uses. By my count you've come through at least seven times." Was it really that many? She tried to think back and nodded. Wow, seven years into her future. "That means you only have two, maybe three at the most, trips left before the portal probably closes for you." She balled her hands. No. No that wasn't fair.

"I didn't include this in my entry in your brother's journal," continued Ford. "But I can guess at the reason you're here. Or at least a reason. Something bad happened to you in your world, and you are escaping into this one. Am I right?" She felt her eyes widen. She and Dipper might not have twin mind reading powers but her Uncle could read her like an open book. "And judging by the way you act, I would say it was something bad that happened to -"

Mabel abruptly stood up, glaring angrily at her Uncle and shouting for him to shut up. Of course, what she really shouted was, "DIPPER!" She felt hot tears on the sides of her face and her whole body was shaking with rage. He hadn't just hit the nail on the head, he had hit it so hard it flew out the other side!

"Calm down," said Ford, also standing. She realized for the first time that she was just as tall as he was now. "I'm just warning you. You need to be prepared for… the inevitable. You won't be able to come here forever, no matter how much you or Dipper want to deny it. Mabel, you need to be ready for the day you're cut off from this world… and from your brother.

"Which brings me to the second thing we need to talk about," Ford let out a cough and paused. And, did he look embarrassed? She had never, ever, seen his face turn red like that. He sat back down and she did the same. "This is actually a little harder to say, but, again, both Mabel Prime and I agree that you should know, especially now with everything that's happened. I figured it out years ago of course, solving puzzles and discovering hidden meanings has sort of been my life's work." He cleared his throat.

"Mabel Prime and Dipper are... well... they," stammered Ford. She was at a loss for words. Well, yes, okay, ha-ha, she was always at a loss for words these days. But she had never seen her Uncle like this before. _He_ was never at a loss for words. "Wow, and I thought talking to you about the whole end of everything was going to be difficult. Okay, well... you see they - " he gestured with his hands, like he was mushing together a big ball of clay. Mabel wasn't sure what he was trying to convey about her counterpart and her brother. "Dipper loves her a lot, a whole lot. He loves his sister."

 _Okay… so… what?_ thought Mabel. She loved her brother. He loved her. What was - Oh. OH! OH! No, he couldn't, he didn't. Ford wasn't implying that she and Dipper had… that they... Her eyes widened and Ford pointed at her.

"Bingo," he said, pointing at her.

Mabel felt instantly sick in a way the spinning dragon had failed to do to her. Bile swelled up in her throat and she only just managed to cover her mouth and catch it. Her brain was refusing to spell it out for her, but it knew. And then her thoughts shouted it inside her skull.

 _You're having sex with your brother!_

A second round of bile came up her throat. This time she only just managed to make it to the attached bathroom toilet before she threw up.

"Not exactly the reaction I expected," said Ford calmly. Now that he had gotten it out he seemed to have regained some of his composure. "But I guess it's an understandable one. I take it you don't have the same, uh, inclinations?" Mabel gaped at him, how could he possibly think she - with Dipper? There was the familiar sensation again and she turned back to the toilet.

"Interesting, I had always conjectured that your presence had caused the onset of this situation," mused Ford. That she had…? That she wanted…? There it was again, she turned back to the toilet for a third time. "Anyhow, there's nothing for you to worry about."

Nothing for her to worry about? Was he crazy? She was - Nope, don't think it, don't think about - oh crap baskets, there it was _._ She dry heaved into the toilet, nothing else left to expel.

"As I said, I've built my life on figuring out puzzles, and that one was pretty easy to solve, at least for me," explained Ford. "I doubt anyone else has put it together yet. I've already voiced my opinion on it to the both of you... both of them? In any case, they're adults and they can figure out what it is they want to do with themselves.

"Also, I don't think Dipper looks at you quite the same way." She shot him a confused look. She _was_ his sister, of course he thought about her the same way. Her Uncle, seemed to read her mind once more and explained. "No, you aren't _his_ sister, not really. He sees you - " Ford paused looking for the right words here " - like, like he remembers how you used to be. He hasn't said it outloud, but I've read his journal entries about you. He see's you as if you are the Mabel from that first summer you spent in Gravity Falls." She felt her eyes widen. Apparently Dipper could hit the nail on the head sometimes.

She wiped her mouth with some of the toilet paper then flushed the unsightly mess away. Again, that funny image floated back to her of the last time she had been in this room, swapped into Dipper's body, throwing up in this very same toilet over… she guessed sort of a similar reaction. Walking on unsteady feet she made her way back to the couch and collapsed.

"So, there you go," said her Uncle. "That's more or less what you wanted to tell yourself. It might not have been the same coming from me, but, you thought you needed to hear it." Mabel tucked her legs up to her chest and pulled her dragon sweater over them. "I'll, just let you sort it out."

Her Uncle got to his feet and departed the room rather swiftly. She, on the other hand, pulled her arms into her sweater and ducked her head down. At long last things had gotten so bad for her that she was now in sweater town, inside of sweater town.

Her mind raced in circles, from anger to horror to betrayal to anger again. _What the hell Dipper? What the actual hell?_ The one person that was never supposed to betray her, her best friend, her brother, her twin. They were doing it! They were - she couldn't bring herself to think it a second time but the word echoed in the back of her brain.

 _Sex Sex Sex Sex Sex Sex Sex Sex Sex Sex Sex Sex Sex Sex Sex Sex Sex Sex Sex Sex Sex Sex Sex Sex_

She shook her head inside her sweater. She hadn't fallen into another made up, messed up world yet, but maybe if she tried hard enough she would.

How could he do this to her!

"Dipper," Mabel groaned angrily. She would have given anything to be anywhere else. Anywhere but here!

She let the forbidden memory of Dipper's last moment wash through her mind.

There it was… that strange, unreal sensation of falling as Dipper pushed her out of the way. As he pushed her out of the world. She let her eyes look down and her body seemed to fade away, such that she was just floating eyes in a tunnel of orange wool. The world stretched out below her and for the briefest moment she wondered what screwed up reality she would find herself in next.

A room filled out below her. Her room. Back at home. A room with her bed and her stuffed animals and her strings of lights and… and… her. She was sitting on her bed, wrapped up in a pink shooting star sweater, tucked away inside sweater town. Okay… that… was… different…

She didn't fall into her body but rather continued to look down at it. Even stranger, was that she could see through the neck hole of the pink sweater below her. And through that, she could see herself again, sitting on the couch in the Mystery Shack, tucked in her orange and yellow sweater, looking down into sweater town. It was her, over and over, alternating forever between pink and orange into an infinitely tiny far off dot.

She looked up, into the sweater ceiling above. Through the torn neck hole of pink sweater town, was another orange and yellow sweater town. It was like looking into an infinite hallway of sweater mirrors. There wasn't another sweater town to escape to, there was just -

"Mabel," came a breathy scared voice from the door. The sweater world's folded into each other and collapsed. For a long moment all she could see was dim darkness until she opened her eyes to stare at the orange and yellow inside of her sweater. She was back in just the one sweater again… or two sweaters?

She'd just had the strangest waking dream about sweaters inside of sweaters. And about Great Uncle Ford telling her… oh, no… no, that last part had been real. And now Dipper was here too. No, not right now, not him. Please, not him! She just wanted her brother to go away! She wanted to be alone.

She listened for any sounds that he had come closer, but she couldn't hear anything over the pounding of her own heart.

"Do…" his voice cracked. "Can I come in?" She started to rock back and forth. She had no idea what answer to give. Dipper however seemed to take no answer as a yes.

She heard his soft footsteps and felt his weight as he plopped down next to her. The speed of her rocking increased. There was a long pause. She half expected Dipper to put his arm around her and try to comfort her, but he simply spoke instead.

"So… Ford told you, didn't he?" Dipper said it softly, but there wasn't even a tremor in his voice, just a note of sadness. YES! _Ford_ had told her, he had told her everything! How could it have been Ford and not Dipper that told her!

Anger flared across her face and a boiling rage built up inside her. She was seconds from exploding out of her sweater and yelling at him, or running from him, or hitting him, or doing something, anything that would express how betrayed and angry she felt at him!

"I didn't want him to tell you," continued Dipper softly. "There isn't anything we can do about the woolhole." All of her thoughts suddenly derailed and crashed to a stop. Wait - the what? "He and Original Mabel - yes I know, still a terrible name - think it's important for you to know that you can't keep coming here forever. But, I mean, no one can fix it. Not you or me or even Great Uncle Ford. I thought it was better for you to just - just be happy with the time we have."

She poked her head slightly out of sweater town and she could see that Dipper was honest to god crying. She couldn't help it, it was built into her, a part of her, a defining aspect of who she was. She reached out and hugged him. At first he didn't seem to respond as he continued to sob. He lightly touched her elbow, an indication that he was both thankful for the embrace, and that she could let him go. He nodded, running a sleeve over his cheeks.

"I haven't said it, but I should," he continued, still a little hitch in his voice. "But when you're here, it feels like - like we're back in Gravity Falls for that first time. Like it's just you and me against the world. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change this," and here he gave her a meaningful look that, made her stomach tighten. "Any of this. But I miss how things used to be between us." He looked down at the floor.

"I'm sure Ford told you the other thing too, his theory about us?" said Dipper. She nodded ever so slightly. "He's wrong, Mabel." Dipper looked at her, defiance in his eyes. "Our Uncle knows a lot. He sees a lot. But he's wrong, okay." She frowned. "Look, I would do anything for you - for my sister. Anything she asked me to. And I love her, I do. But Great Uncle Ford is wrong, okay? Please just - just forget he told you anything?"

Mabel felt all mixed up and confused. Really she didn't know how to feel right now. So many contradictory thoughts were bubbling through her head. Dipper had lied to her this morning, right? There had been a video that Original Mabel had wanted her to see, right? Or had she imagined him reaching for the laptop? No, there had been a video! Ford had said there was a video!

There had also been a message on the phone when Dipper had yanked it out of her hand! _We need to talk,_ it had said… or had, had it been a text from someone? Maybe it had been a text from the boy Dipper had said she was seeing - what had his name been again? It started with a 'Z,' right?

Of course there was Ford, saying it to her face. Although, now that she recalled the conversation of only a few minutes ago, he hadn't really said anything, he had just implied it. And since when did she really trust Ford anyhow? Great Uncle Ford was Dipper's idol, and her brother was telling her not to believe the man he had put so much faith in.

Mabel felt old doubts beginning to creep over her. From the moment he had come through that portal, something about Ford had felt off to her. She trusted Grunkle Stan, she knew Grunkle Stan. Ford on the other hand, he was family sure, but he wasn't concerned with family, not the way Stan was, not the way she was. Worse, he had actively worked to drive a wedge between her and Dipper that summer. All in the hopes that Dipper would stay and become his apprentice. There were nights, not many, not often, where sometimes she wished that she had just pushed that stupid button.

She finally nodded at Dipper, a very small smile on her lips. He stood and offered her his hand. He smiled back as she took it and he pulled her up out of sweater town.

"Come on, dinner should be ready soon," said Dipper.

* * *

Mabel sat beside her brother as they all shared in a fairly magnificent feast that, surprisingly, Soos had prepared for them. It was a whole turkey, like thanksgiving, her second favorite holiday after Christmas. In fact, it was pretty much thanksgiving. With mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, watermelon slices (Gravity Falls seasonal substitute) and stuffing.

Everyone chatted and talked pleasantly, Dipper recounting some of the events of the day. He stopped as they reached the point with the dragon chasing them.

"Oh! What then dude!" cried Soos, so wrapped up in the story that his elbow landed in the mashed potatoes on his plate.

"You're just going to have to wait and see," grinned Dipper. "Me and Mabel will start work on editing tomorrow and it should be posted in a couple days."

"Aw man! No fair! Come on Dip! We gotta know if you made it out of there!" cried Soos.

"Soos," said Ford with a raised eyebrow. "We're sitting right here."

"Yeah, but how do I know if you escaped?" he asked.

"Because we're sitting right here," repeated Ford.

"Yeah, but what if the dragon ate you or something? Oh man! I hate cliffhangers!"

Ford sighed, giving up. But everyone else laughed.

There was even Apple pie for dessert. Apple pie and vanilla ice cream. It was possibly the best meal Mabel had ever had. And that was saying something.

Feeling completely full and stuffed to the gills, she and her brother finally made their way upstairs. Their Uncles stayed to help with the dishes while Melody went off to check on her sleeping daughter, who had gone to sleep before dinner.

Dipper offered first use of the bathroom to Mabel, a huge breach of protocol, no rock paper scissors for first use was almost unheard of, save for the great diarrhea scare of that thursday in July. Still, he insisted that she could go first and he would patiently wait.

Mabel grabbed her usual change of clothing, selecting her seafoam green nightshirt with a rubber duck on the front. She paused before leaving the room and also selected a pair of pajama pants. She usually only put on a full pajama outfit when it got cold out, she was a hot sleeper and often kicked off her covers during the night. Warm fluffy pants just made the issue worse. Nonetheless, she took them with her.

She gave her bro, who was currently busy transferring the video off one of the cameras, a glance, then departed before he looked up. She entered the small shared bathroom before doing something she never had before. She locked the door behind her. Her hand came away shaking slightly and she grabbed it with her other hand to steady it. She was being stupid, wasn't she? Mabel didn't unlock it.

Instead, she stripped down, all the way, then turned on the shower. The pitiful excuse for pressure bubbled out of the faucet and into the tub. She flipped the switch and the shower changed from bath to overhead sprayer. This appeared to have better pressure, but she knew that was an illusion. It had less outlets for the water, making the same trickle seem more like a torrent. Still, it got decently hot for her fairly quickly and she climbed in.

As she stood under the spray, her eyes kept glancing towards the door, like she half expected her brother to bust in on her. But there wasn't even so much as a creek out in the hallway.

She soaped herself, and scrubbed, maybe a little more forcefully than normal. She even did her hair , whatever had been in that lake smelled awful and she didn't want Bel waking up to the rank odor.

As she applied the conditioner, the fourth step in her twelve part hair care washing - her hair was very important to her afterall and needed all the correct steps - her thoughts drifted back to her conversation with Great Uncle Ford. He had told her two things. Two terrible things.

One, she wouldn't be able to keep coming back to this world for much longer. Soon, her brother would be gone. He would be gone! Gone forever this time and she would really be alone.

And B, no, two, Dipper loved her. He loved-loved her. And they were doing... stuff together. Stuff siblings shouldn't be doing together. Was that a three? She frowned.

The question now, the big one she had to ask herself. Who did she believe? Because, four, Dipper had told her Ford was wrong about point B, or number two, or whatever!

Mabel suddenly had a sweet soapy taste in her mouth, along with a grimy lake watery one. She spat out the hair strands she had unconsciously tugged into her mouth. She ran her tongue along her teeth trying to get rid of the nasty taste and felt something strange and unexpected. She did it again. There it was again. Mabel ran her tongue along her smooth perfect teeth and a moment later her eyes widened.

They… they were gone! She was free! The horrible, awful, terrible, implements of unspeakable mouth torment were gone! She flung her hands into the air and did a little spinning dance in the tub, almost slipping as she laughed and cried with joy.

Her happy dance finally stopped as she spotted movement through the shower curtain. She stiffened and cautiously, pulled it open to reveal the mirror above the sink. She sighed, then smiled at it, her blurry, fogged over reflection smile back. She hopped out of the tub, hair mid conditioning, water still running, her body sopping wet and stood in front of the small mirror. She wiped a hand across it and smiled at herself.

Her braces were gone. She really hoped they had let her keep them so that she could have jumped and stomped on them, making the stupid things pay for all the torment they had caused her.

She spent a few good minutes just pulling her mouth open and looking at the white, unblemished slabs in her perfectly straight mouth. She couldn't argue with the results, just the method.

Finally, having seen enough of her mouth, she hopped back into the shower, humming as she diligently applied the last of the hair care products she needed.

It was a good hour later when she finally emerged, changed into her nightwear, pajama pants and all. She had been expecting her brother to chide her for taking so long, or sprint out in a desperate hurry to use the facilities. What she hadn't expected was to find him asleep on his bed, laptop resting sideways on his leg, still plugged into the camera.

Mabel smiled at him.

He had already changed for the night while she was out. His head hung back over the headboard and his mouth hung open. Uneven, slightly louder than normal snores poured from him. He was adorable and also, not looking very comfortable.

Carefully, she pulled his laptop off his lap and set it on the floor. Ever so gently, she slid his body down trying not to wake him. Finally she maneuvered him flat onto his bed where he turned slightly to his side. He didn't open his eyes, and she wasn't sure he was even awake but a soft, "Thanks Mabes," escaped his lips as she pulled his blanket over him.

She stepped back to admire her handywork and her foot knocked into his laptop. She looked down at it. She froze. She had poked around in it before, finding dozens of pictures of herself, that he had never really explained. None of them had been… gross? Sure that worked - pictures of her. They had just been pictures. Many of pictures had been of the both of them. She was sure she had loads of pictures of him too, in fact, she knew she did. Why wouldn't he have some of her. Not some, lots of her. She shook her head.

No. No she had decided that she believe Dipper. If he said Ford was wrong, she believe him. Still… the video…

Mabel lifted the laptop. There was a transfer bar from the camera that said it had completed. She clicked 'OK' and the window vanished. Dipper's desktop was surprisingly clean, in stark contrast to his room - Mabel did a quick glance around the shared bedroom at the mounds of dirty socks and shirts and underwear. The background was an image of the Mystery Shack, with a large group of people standing out in front of it. Mabel felt like she recognized the image somehow, but she had no idea from where, maybe it had been there the last time she looked at it? She couldn't remember.

Her focus returned to the items on the desktop. There were only four icons. One was the standard Garbage Bin, that you couldn't remove. Two were folders, one of which said 'Inprogress' and another labeled 'Completed.' And then there was a fourth file, a file that said, 'Play Me - Mabel.' She moved the mouse cursor over it, but didn't click. She… she really shouldn't. Her hand clicked.

Her face, her other face, the face of Bel appeared on the screen. The video didn't start playing, she had to manually hit the play button. Mabel stopped and looked down at her sleeping brother. Cautiously, she retreated to the other side of the room and turned the sound wayyyyyy down. Then she clicked play.

"Hey Mabel! It's me, Mabel!" said the girl in the video, "And our brother Dipper!" she reached out and pulled Dipper into frame, hugging him tight.

"You don't think calling me 'our brother' is confusing?" asked Dipper. Bel blew a raspberry at him.

"Trust me, I know what myself means," said Mabel.

"That doesn't even make grammat - " began Dipper.

"Anyhow, I thought it was time you and me and our bro-bro had a bit of a chat, I know it's super one sided, but I thought you should hear it from me, us, you?" Bel pondered her words. "Look, Ma - Mabel, I'm gonna level with you, get real, do the girl talk thing. I know what you are going through, with sweater town. I've been there." She leaned in close to the camera. "I've been there girl! I'm the only one that really gets it, that really knows what it's like!" she leaned back, "But, I went, you know?"

"What my sister is trying to say, and failing in so many words," interjected Dipper, "is - "

"Hush! Girl talk remember," said Bel, affectionately bonking him on the head. "Look, Great Uncle Ford doesn't think you have a lot of return visits left. I know it was super hard for me when it ended, but I got through it." She hugged Dipper. "And you'll get through it to, okay?"

The video ended abruptly, which Mabel had thought was odd. She checked the play bar at the bottom and confirmed that was indeed all there was. She started it over and watched it again, then again, then again. Tears had been running down her face since the first viewing but she didn't wipe them away, she just let them flow.


	8. Chapter 8 - The Statue

Sweater Town

Chapter 8 – The Statue

By Starwin

* * *

It was the first time Mabel didn't awaken when her dream of sweater town ended. She knew this was a dream because she was flying. Well, not flying, more like floating. Even that wasn't the right word for it but her brain couldn't come up with anything else. She knew she couldn't float through the sky so this had - she was ascending, that was the word - to be a dream.

As she ascended, she could see the edges of the distant sky around her. Except, it wasn't a sky. It was fabric, it was a sweater. She realized this was the first time she had ever been 'awake' when leaving. No, not awake, aware? It felt weird and unsettling.

She had always just awoken in her own bed. She never remembered leaving sweater town. One moment she was there and the next, she was back in her room as if she had never gone anywhere at all. It was odd when she really considered it. Sweater town was like a reverse dream.

When she dreamed, she never remembered how they started. Instead, she simply found herself in the middle of whatever thing she was dreaming about. When she woke up, she could usually recall those last moments between being asleep and awake. Sometimes it was even hard to separate the two.

With sweater town, she always remembered how it started, how she fell in. That transition from waking to dreaming. But she could never remember the end. Sweater town always just vanished abruptly for her.

This was the first time she could actually remember and sense those final moments. She could see clearly the video of her other self, of Bel, talking to her about the end of the world. And she had felt herself lift from her bed and into the sky.

She tried to look down, to see the tiny bedroom far below. However, her head wouldn't move. In fact, no part of her body would move. She couldn't even shift her eyes to glance around. All she could do was stare into the fabric of the world.

She tried to recall if she had been able to move around when she fell into sweater town. She didn't know. She just knew that the further down she went, the more it felt like flying. No, that was also the wrong word for it.

Mabel struggled again, trying to move her arms or kick her legs but they didn't respond. It wasn't like she was tied down - or was it tied up, she wasn't sure (did it matter?). It was more that her body simply wouldn't obey her commands. It had stopped listening to what she wanted it to do.

So, instead of focusing on her body, she tried to turn her attention to anything else. Usually, as she entered sweater town, the real world would fade away, like it was a dream. And whenever she awoke back in her own bed, sweater town became just a half remembered fantasy. While she was here, between worlds, she could clearly remember both of them.

Emotions and memories fought for control over her as she recalled losing her brother and going to his funeral. But she had also just fought a dragon (okay, run away from a dragon) at his side. Both the memories felt so real. Neither was a dream or a fantasy.

She remembered what Great Uncle Ford had told her. That this pathway, this connection between worlds was coming apart at the seams, literally. She could see it. She could - she could feel it. It was like a tangled up knot just below her tummy. A really painful, super uncomfortable, knot that twisted all around.

She put her hands over her belly. Oh, good, her hands were working again, that was nice of them. Another bolt of pain shot through her. Okay, wow, that was something else. She had never felt that before.

Mabel winced, she didn't think dreams could hurt like that. But this wasn't really a dream and she wasn't really awake. And there had been that one time in sweater town that had hurt so much. That had been awful. This wasn't as bad as before but it wasn't good either.

She tried to focus her thoughts once again. Her eyes found the frayed ends of threads hanging loosely all around her. She could see the damage that had appeared with each trip. How much longer did she really have before this place came tumbling down on her?

Her stomach gave another unpleasant twist and she wrapped her arms tighter around herself. She curled into a ball against the pain. What the hot-Belgian-waffles was going on down there? She was holding her knees tightly to her chest but that wasn't helping at all! When she moved her arms, Mabel could sense a give in the sweater that hadn't been there only a day or so ago.

Ford was right, however many trips she had left to sweater town, it would soon come to an end. There had been something else he had said too… but she couldn't remember what it was. No. She didn't want to remember because it wasn't true. He was wrong. Dipper had said Ford was wrong.

Mabel felt herself sink into her soft bed as the feeling of weightlessness left her. The waking dream slipped away quickly as reality and fantasy unfurled from each other, leaving her disoriented. It took her a long moment to reason out where she was, and why she was curled up, and how she had gotten into this uncomfortable position.

She was back, she was awake and tucked inside her sweater. She tried to wriggled herself out but stopped as she heard the ripping sound of fabric. She didn't move. She didn't breathe. She simply lay there, trying to decide what to do now.

The pain in her stomach exploded and it took all her strength to not just fling her arms and legs outwards. She had awoken to the sound of ripping, which meant she had to be very careful taking off her sweater.

That wasn't going to be easy because her brain was screaming for her to uncurl right now. Something very bad was going on inside her. It felt like someone had inflated her insides to twice their normal size, almost to the point of popping. Staying in her current position was just making it worse.

In the last few moments before she had found herself awake and wrapped in her sweater, she had been having the strangest waking dream about remembering her dream. Now that her eyes were open and she could see the pink fabric pulled over her head, she was having a hard time recalling very much about her most recent sweater town adventure. There had been a dragon in it, that much she could clearly remember.

She had also felt a very similar pain in her tummy that she was currently gritting her teeth through. She needed to get out of this position, it felt like it was making things worse. She shifted in her sweater and she heard the ripping sound again. She stopped moving and she remembered her Great Uncle Ford telling her that soon her dreams of sweater town would end. She knew that time was close, and come right now if she didn't extract herself very, very carefully.

Her body twinged with pain, begging to spread out as quickly as possible.

She was able to wiggle out her right leg first. It felt odd as she moved it. Her inner thigh was slick with something she couldn't exactly see or touch right at the moment. It was slow going, scooting by inches at a time. Once her leg was out though the whole affair of getting the rest of her body free was pretty straight forward. Delicately she pulled off the last bit of sweater. She briefly struggled to untangle her sheets from around her. With a final kick she freed herself of the blankets and lay spread out on her back, panting slightly from the effort.

She winced again as her stomach twisted. What the heck was going on down - oh…

Her eyes had finally looked down and found the horrible bloody mess along her legs and staining her sheets. Well, that was just what she needed right now, wasn't it? Why not now? Of course she had to get her first period now. Sure. Good work body, you suck. Her tummy tightened again, as if to say: _anytime, don't mention it, I'll be here for the rest of your life, every month!_ She could have punched her guts, but, she was already in enough distress.

She had known this was coming of course. She had already gotten both a lecture from her Grunkle Stan (while she had been switched with Dipper). She had also had 'the talk' with her mother not long after she had come home at the end of summer. Mabel wasn't sure which had been worse. She felt the pain flare up again. This. This was way worse than either of those talks.

Her hand suddenly jumped to her sweater, an abrupt fear in her thoughts. She lifted the sweater above her head to see the damage and if she had managed to bleed on it. The garment was in pretty bad shape. Many of the rips looked even worse than before and - darn it - it wasn't blood free! Stupid body!

Against the fushia of the wool it was hard to see but there was indeed a small reddish-brown stain on one side. Of course there was. What had she expected? She had been completely enveloped in the thing, like a second skin. Her sheets, her shirt, her underwear and her sweater weren't safe from her new super power. That power being to make a mess out of everything.

Her gaze drifted off the stain and across the rest of the precious garment. The outer seam from neck to shoulder had split completely. The gap was big enough that Mabel could have fit both her hands through (she didn't, obviously not wanting to make it worse). Or, she might be able to wiggle her whole body through if she really tried. Or, or, if she'd had a second head, both could have come out the top! Or, or, or, if Dipper was here, they could have worn it together and pretended to be a two headed monster!

Her face fell as she thought of Dipper. She didn't know what to do. Her favorite sweater, her connection to her brother, her gateway to sweater town was literally unraveling in her hands and she couldn't fix it.

She let her sweater flop down above her head, well out of the mess around her legs. Her eyes drifted down to the smeared blood along her thighs and soaking into her sheets. She didn't really know what to do about that one either. Okay, that wasn't true, she did have some idea.

During her talk with her mom, she had also given Mabel some products to help her out. One of those things was a box of pads she could wear. Like mini girl diapers. She wasn't really looking forward to wearing them. The alternative product sounded even worse. Mabel shuddered, recalling the images she had seen on the internet about them. Stupid internet, always ruining everything for her!

So, okay, the first thing she had to do was clean up this mess, starting with herself. Figuring she couldn't really make her sheets a lot worse, she wiped some of the gunk off her legs. Of course the moment she finished there was more. She sighed. What a mess.

She held her long nightshirt between her legs for the short walk to the bathroom. At least she wasn't leaving bloody footprints as she went.

Walking wasn't super comfortable. Half naked, dripping with blood, body trying to kill her from the inside out. Oh yeah, this day was going to be great, she could already tell.

At last she reached the bathroom. A very tiny part of her was glad she didn't have to fight to use it today. She got to the shower and turned the hot water on full blast. She stripped off her clothing. After debating for a moment, she tossed her clothes into the sink and turned that on too.

The shower was finally warm enough, not as hot as she liked, but warm enough. The hot water seemed to help. It certainly didn't make things all better but it did make them better.

About a minute into her shower though, she had to scramble out. Her clothing had clogged up the sink and it had started to overflow too. She shut it off and tossed all but one of the towels in the bathroom onto the floor. Then she was back in the shower.

Mabel stood under the scalding water, letting it wash over her. Her tummy continued to twist and turn, but it didn't feel as bad as when she had woken up. She wasn't sure if she was just getting used to it or if maybe the hot water was really helping or if it was indeed getting better. She didn't really care what the reason was though. She was just glad it wasn't as bad.

"Mabel," came the voice of her mother, along with a knock. Mabel froze in the shower, already knowing what was coming. "Sweetheart, it's alright. You don't have to be afraid or worried. I'll take care of your sheets. The box of SuperMaxPads are in the cabinet for you." Mabel could feel herself go completely red. Of course her mother knew. "Take as long as you need."

Had it been any other time, Mabel might have said something. Maybe she would have said thanks or give an embarrassed complaint about her mother invading her privacy. Right now, she didn't say anything.

* * *

Mabel stayed in the shower for another hour. She had decided that the water was indeed helping. And the longer she stayed there the longer it would be until she had to face her mom or put on those stupid girl diaper things. Unlike baths, the nice thing about showers was that they stayed hot much longer. But not forever.

While the water wasn't cold, it was cooling down. She was also feeling eager to escape the constant twisting she was feeling in her tummy. It was time to head back to sweater town.

She shut off the water, grabbed the last clean towel. The rest were on the floor soaking up the spill from the sink. She began to dry herself off. She didn't appear to be leaking right at this moment but she had no idea when the flow was going to start up again. Or how bad it would be.

It wasn't like she was afraid of blood. It came with the territory of her life. From crafting injuries to scrapes and cuts from tumbles and falls. But there was something different about it when it was coming from inside you and not through a cut on your skin.

Nope, nope, she didn't want to think about this any more than she already had to.

She knelt in front of the cabinet below the sink and rifled around in the items underneath. Extra soap, a box of bandaids, two packs of Dipper's deodorant (he always liked to have extra) - she quickly pushed those away, trying not to think about her absent brother. Oh come on! She was already tearing up. Her hand bumped blindly through the rest of the objects until she found the box.

She yanked it out, briefly scanning the packaging that announced its easy to use sticky tabs and absorbency and blah-blah-blah. Mabel tore the top off and fished inside. She pulled out one of the small pads and held it in her palm. It wasn't really like a diaper at all now that she was looking at it. The box also included instructions, which she quickly browsed over, it looked simple enough.

She hadn't exactly thought to bring clean clothing with her. So, she just held it between her legs with one hand while she kept the towel up with the other. She hurried back to her room, praying that she wouldn't bump into anyone. She didn't.

Safe behind her door, she quickly checked the pad she had been holding to herself. Already a spot of red in it. She hoped it wasn't going to be like this every time.

She started to get dressed, picking a pair of - not white - underwear from her collection. Attaching the pad thing did indeed turn out to be easy, the sticky tabs actually worked quite well. With her underwear in place and her hands free once more, the rest of her clothing came quickly. Blue skirt, dark blue undershirt - thankfully still no bra to contend with. Waking up to needing one of those was probably going to be less dramatic. Of course, she realized that had actually already happened to her, and that it had been pretty dramatic.

Despite her age, her older self, Bel, the Mabel she was in her dreams of sweater town was still wearing sweaters too. It was good to know she hadn't changed too much, even if her body had. Not for the first time, Mabel wished she could talk to Bel, to ask her stuff, lots of stuff. There were so many things she wanted to know about her future life.

She shook her head. No, that was all just a dream, it wasn't real. Why was it so hard for her to remember that? The answer was simple, she wanted it to be real. She wanted to keep having adventures with her brother. She wanted to never have to grow up but still be able to do the things adults did. She had the best of both worlds in sweater town. Endless summer adventures with Dipper forever.

No, not forever, just until her - her thoughts stopped abruptly. Her eyes fell on the empty bed. Her mom had taken her sheets to wash. She had also taken - No, no, no, no, no!

"DIPPER!" Mabel ran from her room screaming.

* * *

It took her a surprisingly long time to find her mother, down in the laundry room. In hindsight, that should have been the first place she should have looked. Stupidly, she had looked almost everywhere else first.

It took even longer for Mabel to calm down and become coherent enough to communicate what she wanted. Only being able to say her brother's name wasn't helping her as she shouted "Dipper" over and over at her mother, who looked confused and pained at the same time.

"Calm down," said her mother as she held her in a hug, trying to will some calm into her daughter. "Take a deep breath." Mabel was having a lot of trouble doing that right now. Her thoughts had gone all wonky and finding words were hard to do. Emotions seemed to be flooding out of her even worse than normal right now and she couldn't stop them.

Finally, she was able to squirm out of her mother's embrace and point frantically at her sweater. It took her mother a moment to realize what she wanted.

"Your pink one, with the rainbow shooting star?" asked her mom. Mabel nodded. "I was going to patch it up and wash it. I don't know what you did to it but it's practically falling apart."

Her mother fished it out of the laundry basket sitting on top of the washer. Mabel made a desperate grab for it but her mom pulled it away. Unfortunately, Mabel had caught one of the tears at the bottom with her finger. There was a ripping sound as the small hole near the bottom became a new, larger, tear. Mabel let out a scream of horror.

"Mabel!" her mother snapped disapprovingly. "Stop it! I know today is going to be rough for you but that doesn't excuse this kind of behavior." Her mother tossed the sweater back into the laundry basket. "I'll fix it up, get it cleaned and you can have it back when I'm done." Mabel was shaking her head, trying to get around her mom and pull it out of the basket. "That's enough, young lady! You aren't a child anymore, you need to stop acting like one!

"There's still food in the fridge I made for you yesterday," said her mother, finally placing herself in front of the washer so that Mabel couldn't get passed. "Go eat something so I can get this done!"

Her mother had no idea what she was messing with. If she put the sweater in the washer it might very well come completely apart and there was no way Mabel was willing to risk that. However, she also didn't stand much of a chance trying to get around her mom right now. Nor could she really do any sort of arguing with her. She would just have to pretend to go eat lunch and when her mom left, sneak back in and snatch her sweater back.

Letting out an angry huff, Mabel stormed out of the laundry room. She headed towards the kitchen but stopped before she got there. She hid herself around a corner and waited, listening for her mom to start up the washer and leave while it worked. She didn't have to wait very long. Her mom emerged a minute or two later, muttering to herself.

"I hope she isn't going to be like this forever," whispered her mom. She pressed herself against the corner hoping her mother would not see her. She could hear the creaks of the stairs as her mother went up. She frowned after her mom. They hadn't been on the best terms for a while now and this whole 'everything' had just made their already tenuous relationship more strained.

It wasn't that they didn't like each other, it was more that they didn't get each other. Her mom was fairly strict, a by the rules kind of woman. Mabel, to say the least, was not. Her free spirit and her mom's rigid adherence to all things not fun, often clashed. They could also both be very stubborn, which didn't help either of them see eye-to-eye.

In fact, she had been honestly surprised when her mother had let her keep her pig. Her mom had been the biggest opposition to it. Dipper had helped sway her a lot though. Even their dad had given in to Mabel's big puppy dog eyes that had no effect whatsoever on her mom.

Her mom cared about her, there was no doubt in Mabel's mind about that. It was just that her mom didn't understand her. Okay, well, no one understood her right now. That wasn't what she meant. When she had been able to talk normally, her mom didn't get her. Not the way Dipper did.

Her mother vanished at the top of the stairs and Mabel darted forward, back into the laundry room. She yanked open the washer lid and it rumbled to a stop. She frowned, the sweater wasn't there. Of course it wasn't! Her sheets were white, no way her mom would have mixed in a pink garment. She closed the washer lid and the machine resumed.

She spent ten minutes searching the room, until finally she was convinced that the sweater wasn't there. Her mom must have taken it with her. Darn it! Okay, well, at least if she had taken it upstairs that meant she was going to try and fix it before washing it. Mabel frowned.

What was her mother going to do when she discovered that the sweater was unfixable? Would she just throw it out? Would she freak out?

They hadn't really talked about all the weirdness that had happened up in Gravity Falls. Neither of their parents would have really gotten it or believed it. Her mother had never said it but, Mabel had the distinct impression that her mom thought they had just made everything up.

Mabel started to fret. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't march up to her parents room and demand her sweater because she couldn't demand! Trying to fight to get it back just ran the risk of making everything worse! Her only option seemed to be to wait it out.

And if she was going to be waiting, she guessed that some food couldn't hurt.

She headed to the kitchen and quickly found the sandwich her mom had made for her yesterday. It was stuffed into the fridge along with a lot more food than she was expecting. Many of the products seemed to be doubled up, even though the first ones hadn't been finished. There was an extra carton of orange juice and a second jug of milk. Extra fruit, more yogurt, a new package of eggs, another loaf of bread (her dad liked to keep bread in the fridge for some reason) and lots of the normal stuff they always ate.

It took her a moment to puzzle out why there was so much extra food but the answer came to her easier than she would have liked. Her mom had run errands yesterday, which meant she had also probably done the shopping. She hadn't accounted for one less person. That extra food in the fridge was what Dipper would have eaten, should have eaten.

Mabel closed the fridge door and took her sandwich to the table. She took a bite without looking and was instantly surprised. It wasn't a bad bite, just not her favorite. It was Dipper's favorite, tuna. With a frown, she put the sandwich down and went back to the fridge. Sure enough, there was a second sandwich that had been placed behind the first, a turkey one. She pulled that out too.

Returning to the table, she set the two plates side-by-side. Then she set about combining the two sandwiches into one. Tuna, turkey, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, a dabble (oh who was she kidding, a smothering) of peanut butter, and her culinary concoction was completed. Stacked three slices high, she was having trouble holding the thing together, but she managed to finally smoosh it enough to fit an end in her mouth. It was amazing.

So why was she crying as she ate it? She didn't feel sad. She wiped the tears as they kept coming with each bite. Stupid body. Wendy had been right. Mabel never thought her whole body would turn against her as it had now. At least the twisting pain in her tummy had relented a tiny bit. It wasn't gone but it was way less bad now.

After the super-snack-a-wich was consumed, she dropped both plates, and the several spoons and knives she had used to add her extra sauces, into the sink. She wasn't in the mood to do dishes right now. If her mom wanted to wash stuff, she could wash those too.

All through lunch, Mabel had been listening for her mother to come downstairs again but she hadn't. She hoped that her mom would hurry up! She was itching to get back into sweater town. Even more so as her cramps began to boil up again after lunch.

A strange thought crossed her mind. She had always assumed - no, that was the wrong word for it, what was up with her brain today picking all the wrong words - that she could only use the shooting star sweater to get to sweater town. But that was kind of a silly assumption, wasn't it? Why couldn't she just knit herself a new shooting star sweater, a better one, a stronger one?

Another, louder, thought weighed in its opinion. Why did she even need a sweater? It was just a dream? All she had to do was fall asleep and she would go to sweater town. No, all she had to do was think about Dipper, and she would go to sweater town.

She shook her head. No, that was all wrong. That wasn't how sweater town worked at all! It had to be the shooting star sweater, and nothing else. A new sweater wouldn't work, a different sweater wouldn't work! Having no sweater at all absolutely, positively, wouldn't work!

When her brain asked her how she knew that the answer was simple. Because she had made the rules. She had made it.

There was a long echoing silence in her head.

She had made it up.

She had made it all up.

And there it was. There was the truth of everything. These past days had all been makebelieve. She had never 'gone' to sweater town. She hadn't 'had' adventures. She hadn't 'seen' Dipper alive and well and whole.

She felt her legs collapse out from under her and she began to sob on the living room floor. She was so stupid for believing any of it. She was such a child to think her dreams were real! Why had she been so stupid, why had she lied to herself for so long. There was no sweater town. There was no Dipper. She had just made it up because it was so much easier than the truth. The truth that she was alone and the one person in the world that really understood her was gone.

Waddles came over and oinked before snuggling up against her leg. Okay, well, Waddles understood her too but he was a pig, it just wasn't the same as her brother… maybe she needed to put a hat on him? She picked him up and cuddled him against her chest. He was getting heavy. She pressed her face against him. Against the pig her brother had sacrificed his chances with Wendy for. The pig her brother had stood up for her to keep.

"Dipper," Mabel wailed into her pet pig.

NO! Sweater town was real. And she was going to prove it to herself. She was going to prove it right now! Once and for all!

Setting her pig aside and wiping tears from her eyes, she marched upstairs. Her tummy twinged, forcing her to slow her pace but she didn't stop. She wasn't going to let this stupid real life woman thing keep her from her goal.

She stopped at the top of the stairs, her eyes fixed on the door to her parents room. Her mouth hung open, panting slightly with the effort of climbing the stairs so quickly. She was ready, she was going to do this. She was going to prove to herself once and for all that sweater town was real and that Dipper was alive there.

Her eyes moved off the door to her parent's room and onto her brother's door. All she had to do was go into his room and find the proof she needed.

In a few quick steps, she reached his door. It had been closed, most likely by her parents. With a jiggle of the handle she also discovered that it had been locked. She ' _pffted_ ' at that. Quickly, she darted into her room and found the bent hairpin she kept handy to unlock her brother's door. The lock popped open with a soft click.

She let the door swing away from her, opening slowly into the dim room beyond. Since his passing, she had only been in once before. She had been in the thralls of a nightmare that still hadn't felt real. It didn't feel real now either. Her eyes swept the mess that had yet to be cleaned up. She wondered how long his room would remain like this.

Taking a deep breath through her nose, she stepped inside. It smelled like her brother. Well, like his unwashed socks, and the faintest hint of his pine scented deodorant. She strode across the room, headed right for his bed.

She was ready to prove to herself once and for all that she wasn't imagining sweater town, that it wasn't all just in her head. All she had to do was a quick once over, not find her brother's journal and - She froze in her steps. Even halfway across the room she could already see the blue book, laying there in the sheets.

That, that wasn't possible, she had given it to her brother. Her other brother. To Dipper in sweater town. She had given it to him. She had held it there, she had seen his new entries in it. When she had returned she had searched all over for it and not found any trace. For it to be laying in the center of his bed, that was impossible.

With shaking hands, she lifted the blue book with its silver pine tree and the number one drawn on the front. Slowly she flipped it over, looking for the gold star that Bel had added to the back. It wasn't there. She opened the book, flipping to the end.

The pages were blank. She turned the pages faster and faster and faster until finally, near the front of the book, words appeared again. Dipper's words, his entries. The last one just two days before the accident that had taken his life.

It… it was a dream. It had always been a dream. She had imagined taking the journal in with her. She had made up all the adventures in sweater town. None of it was real.

She closed the book and put it back on the bed. She left the empty room. She didn't even glance towards her mother's closed door as she trudged across the hall.

She returned to her own room and crawled under her blankets. Or, she would have crawled under her sheets if they had been done washing. Instead she just stood in front of her bed, sheetless, sweaterless, siblingless.

It didn't matter that her mother had taken her sweater. It was all a lie anyhow. It had just been her stupid brain making up stupid stuff. All of it. ALL OF IT! Had just been a lie. It was a pleasant escape she had made herself believe because the reality of it was just too terrible. And now, she couldn't even go there!

She wanted to pull her hair out, to scream, to cry, to do something, anything but be where she was right now. But she was here, she was trapped here. Alone.

She hugged herself. What she decided she really needed right now was pig cuddles. Wandering out of her room she headed downstairs and found Waddles dozing on his pillow. She snuggled down next to him, wrapping her arms around his small soft body and laying her head against him. She listened to his cute snores and the beat of his piggy heart.

It wasn't long before she felt herself drifting off to sleep. But not to sweater town.

* * *

Mabel's day had started with a waking dream, so it only seemed fitting that it ended with one as well. She wasn't entirely sure how she knew this was a dream. There was nothing to give it away. She was just walking through a tall, dark, uninviting forest and couldn't remember how she had gotten here. Just how dreams should start.

It wasn't like she was flying or falling. Or floating? No, nope, she was walking. Maybe it was the walking that gave it away? Was she supposed to walk? That didn't seem right.

High above, the tops of the trees shook and swayed as a wind blew through them. It was like no wind she had ever experienced before. It didn't move all of the trees, it just pushed a few at a time, bending their trunks and swaying their branches. The wind moved like a snake, circling down, gliding around her. She couldn't see it, because it was wind, but she could feel it was there.

Abruptly, the wind changed direction and slammed into her from behind, urging her forward. She planted her feet, trying to stay where she was but that did little good. A moment later she was airborne, carried on the wind.

Yeah, okay, flying, there it was, totally a dream.

The wind carried her higher, up into the branches, past the tops of the trees and into the sky. For some reason she expected the sky to be made of wool. Instead, it was made of... trees? Why couldn't things just be what they were supposed to be for once?

She had very little time to contemplate the odd sight before her as the wind carried her down (up?) into the upside down forest above. Gravity didn't change as the wind brought her to the earthen floor (or was it a ceiling now?) of the flipped over trees. It was a little like being in a cave that had trees for walls instead of stone.

Trunks and branches flashed by as the wind continued to drag her onwards, hurrying her forwards to who knew where. Then, as abruptly as it had picked her up, the wind vanished and Mabel felt herself fall upwards into the ground above her. She tumble painlessly across the dirt until finally coming to a stop. As she lay flat on her belly. She felt the strange unsettling feeling of being completely upside down and hanging from the ceiling.

She knew she was upside down. She knew if she let go, she would fall into the forest below. She knew -

"Knew what?" asked a voice that made her whole body go cold. "She knew how the world worked? Ha! If she knew that, she wouldn't be in this mess right now, would she?" Mabel dared to look up and found the monster to go with the high pitched haunting voice. "Long time no see, shooting star," said the pointed man with a tip of his hat. Bill.

Mabel let go of the ceiling-ground and instantly began to fall. The forest above rushed away from her, but the forest below stayed just as far away as it had been. She wasn't floating, the ground was just moving into the sky. Bill, on the other hand, stayed right in front of her, a smile in his eye.

He was exactly as she remember the interdimensional, mind reading, body possessing, triangular demon of doom. His body was that of a pyramid, complete with the block like lines, as though he had been laid down brick by brick at some point. He had a tall chimney like top hat and a matching black bow tie. Scrawny little arms and legs poked out of his golden body and a huge, ugly, awful, unblinking -

"Yes, we get it, you don't like my eye," interjected Bill, with a casual wave of his hand, as if telling her to get on with it.

\- creepy, soulless, eye looked down upon her.

"You!" shouted Mabel, poking his eye sharply with a finger.

"Oh come on!" exclaimed Bill, recoiling in pain and covering his hideous eye. "What is it with you and always going for my eye? And it isn't hideous, thank you very much!"

"But, I didn't… say - " began Mabel. Wait, were those words coming out of her mouth?

"Ha! 'Say,' you're funny kid!" answered Bill with a laugh. "This is the dreamscape, the world of the mind! You don't 'say' anything here, you think it. Why did you think you could say anything? From how I understand it, you haven't be able to say much at all!"

Mabel swung a fist at Bill but he easily scooted out of her small reach before the blow could connect. The force of the swing sent her tumbling out of control in the air. The triangular demon let her spin head over heels for a moment before stopping her with a finger planted right against her forehead. She flailed her arms, trying to swat his hand away.

"You," repeated Mabel.

"Yes, we already established that," replied Bill with a grin in his eye. "Me."

"How are you still alive! We defeated you! We erased you!" cried Mabel. "How can you be here?"

"Oh, that's simple," explained Bill, but did not elaborate further. The two of them plummeted towards the ground that just continued to get further away. She waited for him to say more while he offered her nothing. "Oh, did you want me to tell you how I'm here?"

"YES!" shouted Mabel indignantly.

"That's simple, I'm not," said Bill. "You're just crazy, and this is all just… a… nightmare." He poked her in her forehead again, much harder this time. She flew backwards, racing away from him and down into the forest below.

She hit the ground hard, sliding across the dirt like a fallen star. She left a long broken gash across the ground. It even smoldered and patches of the dirt burned a bit from the heat of her re-entry. The crash hadn't hurt, in fact, she hadn't felt anything at all. A little shaky, she got to her feet and brushed herself off.

She looked back into the sky above her, searching for the pointed triangle of doom but he wasn't there. It was just normal sky. Even the upside down forest had gone. Her eyes came back to the ground below her feet - where it belonged. She felt a strange shiver run up her spine. She knew this forest, or at least, this part of it. That stump over there. That fallen log near the river. She had been here.

She started to walk, her legs taking her deeper into the woods. She moved past the parts she recognized and into someplace new, unfamiliar and dark. She couldn't say why she was doing this. Who knew why they did anything in dreams. She just knew she had to keep going. She knew that just ahead was something important. Something she needed to find. Something she needed to see.

The trees began to change as she went. Eye-like circles covered their trunks, their leaves turned dark and the air chilled so that she could see her breath. It was a strange sensation that did not feel dream like.

She touched one of the trees, it didn't feel like a tree. It felt rough and smooth, soft and hard, cold and hot, all at the same time. She pulled her hand back and walked on.

In front of her was a deep darkness from which new trees grew into existence out of. In the center of the darkness, steadily glowed with shining golden light. A beacon in the dark.

Her feet carried her, each step feeling heavier than the last. The light blazed ahead of her, beckoning her forward, calling her to it. The light pulsed and shined brighter with each step she took.

All at once, the darkness was washed away. The light changed from one solid color into a symbol, one she recognized, one she feared. Oh no, not this nightmare, please, not this nightmare!

In front of her was a huge statue of Bill. It towered over her, a hundred feet tall. His great glowing eye focused on her. And burning in his eyes was her shooting star. It was projected across the ground, bathing her in its terrible light.

"SEE YOU REAL SOON, SHOOTING STAR!" shouted his high pitched voice from every direction. "REAL SOON!"


	9. Chapter 9 – The Star

Sweater Town

Chapter 9 – The Star

By Starwin

* * *

Mabel's eyes jumped open. She gasped for air, her body covered in sweat and coursing with adrenaline. She just had _the nightmare_ again, the Bill nightmare. Ever since she had returned from Gravity Falls, she had recalled in dreams the time Bill had threatened to kill her. So far it had only happen twice. Well, three times now. She had relived the horrible moment in perfect detail, held aloft in his lifeless, unnatural, hand. His ugly eye staring into her soul, projecting down an image of her shooting star. His fingers ready to snap her life away.

Even still, she had been lucky. The recurring nightmare was rare for her. Well, rarer, at least compared to her brother. She didn't actually know how many times Dipper had experienced that horrible moment in his dreams. She just knew that three of the times had been so bad he had come into her room crying and woken her up just to make sure she was okay.

Yet, this time had been different. The details were a little fuzzy but she knew it wasn't the same. The first and biggest part of what was different was where she had been. It had always, ALWAYS, taken place in complete, absolute, darkness. In her nightmare she found herself in an infinite void of hopeless despair. Dipper had confided in her - when they had talked about it - that his nightmare too was always in the same unending darkness. This time, it had taken place outdoors, in a forest of some kind. Things had gotten shadowy for sure, but it wasn't the same.

Stranger still, it had been a part of the forest she recognized. It was a location not more than an hours hike from the Mystery Shack. Even though the rest of the details were fuzzy, that location stuck out to her, stayed with her, sharp as glass.

But if she was honest, what was really bugging her more than anything else, had been Bill. Because the thing missing from the nightmare was the whole reason it was a nightmare. He hadn't threatened to kill her. That was the problem because that was what made it a nightmare! The demon threatening her life was why it stuck in her mind, why it stuck in her brother's mind.

She struggled to recall what he had actually said to her in the dream but everything was slipping away now. After a long moment of laying on her back she felt the last remnants slip from her mind. It was gone, all of it. Nothing left but the faintest whisper of, 'a nightmare' about 'Bill' that was 'different somehow.' If only that darn dream journal idea had worked for her!

It was then the strangeness of her surroundings began to tickle her thoughts. She was in bed, her bed. Blankets pulled over her and (she checked under the covers) still in the clothing she had been wearing yesterday, a skirt and undershirt, but no sweater. She had not fallen asleep in her bed since her sheets had been in the wash. She had drifted off downstairs.

She frowned. She was contemplating how she had gotten here, when her eyes spotted something that made her heart stop. In an instant she scrambled across her mattress and reached the opposite side of her bed.

No way. NO WAY!

Her hands trembling, she reached out to take her fully repaired and unblemished shooting star sweater off the side rail of her bed. Her mother had done it. Not just cleaned it, but fixed it! She didn't even know how that was possible! No… no she did know…

Absently she traced a finger along one of the repairs near the hem. It was possible because she had made it all up. It was the only real answer. She had damaged the sweater herself. She had undone the stitching after she repaired it. She just pretended Dipper was still alive and everything was fine and sweater town was real.

Gently, Mabel lay the sweater down in front of her and frowned. It had been a fantastic dream but it had been a dream. One she needed to let go of, one that needed to end. That was what her brain had been trying to tell her. She needed to stop going back because if she didn't decide to let it go, she never would.

Climbing off her bed, she gathered up her shooting star sweater and carried it to her closet. She opened the bottom drawer, the one reserved just for this garment. She folded her sweater neatly and placed it inside. She was done with childish fantasies. She pulled the mirrored closet closed, sealing away the sweater forever… or until she opened her closet again.

Her reflection greeted her, she was a sorry sight for sure. The injuries she had sustained were mostly faded now but still visible. Yet, her eyes looked sunken in, her body thin and even her skin appeared to have lost some of its luster.

She had been wasting away, stuck in her room, barely eating, only going outside when she absolutely had to. She had been lost in a fantasy world for days. It felt like she was really awake now for the first time in a long time.

However, she wasn't sure what she was going to do with herself now that she was awake. She hadn't been to school in forever and it seemed impossible she would ever go back. Painting, knitting, playing, anything she might once have done for fun all felt empty to her. She couldn't just spend the day moping in her room because she had done that for so long already. Also, more moping didn't really appeal to her. Maybe TV was what she needed?

Nope. The first thing she needed was a shower. Her body felt all gross. While her cramps had settled a bit from yesterday, they were still there, churning away. It didn't hurt so much as it just felt uncomfortable. Maybe her body had gotten it all out of her system?

She paused as she stepped out into the hallway. The door to - to the empty room across the hall from her was still open. The first thought that ran through her head was that her brother had beat her to the bathroom but - but that obviously wasn't the case. It was then she noticed something else about the room had changed, it was no longer a mess. Instead of clothing scattered over the floor there were cardboard boxes, loads of them. She took a step forward to look inside but she did not enter.

Not everything had been packed away but the packing appeared to be in progress. Books had been pulled off the shelves. Discarded clothing had all been collected. She noticed that the closet, in a mirrored position of her own, was open. Several boxes sat half-packed before it, stuffed with clothing. It was hard to tell from the doorway but she was sure the whole closet had been emptied.

And she didn't feel… anything. Not sad, not empty, not anything. She didn't have the need to run into his room and grab hold of his things, nor dump the boxes out on the floor and make it how it was. She just looked at the room, as if it were just a room, because that's what it was now.

Her eyes traveled the space but stopped on the desk. Of all the things in the room, the desk appeared to be the least packed away. Posters hug above it. The coark board her brother used to pin up articles and theories was still firmly in place. And his journal lay right in the center, not where she had left it the day before.

It was the first time she had felt anything for the room. Her parents could pack everything away. They could get rid of anything they wanted to. But not that. She wouldn't let them get rid of that.

Filled with determination, she marched across the floor, nearly tripped over one of the boxes and placed her hand on the blue, silver pine-tree, journal. She paused for a moment, her eyes fixed on it, then her gaze drifted ever so slightly to the blacklight that sat beside it. Okay, two things she wanted to keep. The blacklight didn't have sentimental value but it didn't seem right to have a journal and not have a blacklight.

She took both items and returned to her room but stopped as she stepped back inside. Where was she supposed to put the journal? The first thought that came to her mind was the drawer where she kept her shooting star sweater, but no. No it was too soon to open that again. Besides, that didn't feel right.

She looked over her room. It was slightly more of a mess than she liked. She hadn't even cleaned up the bits of construction paper from her ill advised dream journal creation of… a week ago? She had a desk too, but that was the wrong place to put it. No, a journal needed a hiding place.

She looked at her bed. She knew exactly where to put the journal, the perfect place. In a few quick steps she reached the head of her bed, pulled the pillow aside and slid the journal under it. She had to smile to herself. That was the perfect spot.

Now what to do with the blacklight, hiding it was way less important. Somewhat awkwardly, she set it on the nightstand. It looked very out of place there but she guessed it was good enough for now.

Journal saved, Mabel continued where she had left off, heading back to the bathroom. Her body felt all icky, not surprising since she had slept fully clothed. She slept hot. A nightshirt had been her choice of sleepwear for years now because it was so good at keeping her cool when she needed it.

She stripped off her clothing, feeling her shirt stick to the dried sweat on her arms and torso. When she pulled of her underwear she was greeted with a ghastly sight. _Right, oh, ick, that was icky_. She hadn't changed pads yesterday at all. She peeled the thing out of her undergarment, folded it and stuffed it into the small trash bin.

The pad thing hadn't done a perfect job. Her underwear wasn't completely discolored but it hadn't remained unblemished either. She hoped washing them would be enough.

She turned the hot of the shower all the way up and quickly brushed her teeth while she waited for it. She didn't have to wait very long.

Once she was in, the hot water of the shower felt so good that she never wanted to leave. For some reason, it was always so easy to lose herself in the running water, to slip away just like she had to sweater town. Even if it wasn't real, it had been an escape. She let the water wash away her thoughts as it sprayed her in the face.

Maybe she could start going into shower town instead? She let herself imagine what that would be like. With hot water always falling from the sky. Billowing clouds of steam would drift across the smooth landscape. There would be dolphins flying through the sky, because, of course there would be. Giant rubber ducks you could ride around on. There would be a constant calm, soothing feeling all the time. And of course she would have to be naked.

Yeah, okay, shower town was maybe a bad idea. If she bumped into her brother there, that would be super awkward to explain to the made up version of him why they were both naked.

Nope. She was not going to think about that. She shut off the shower abruptly. Great. She had just ruined showers for herself.

She hurried out of the shower and dried off eager to get dressed as soon as possible. She gathered up her dirty clothing from yesterday (and a new pad) and made her way back to her room with a towel around her. She had the unfortunate luck to bump into her mother, who, Mabel was sure would chastise her for having fallen asleep downstairs.

"Good morning," said her mother far more brightly than Mabel had expected. There was a smile on her face but it looked odd somehow. Not forced or fake or strained. Just, not right. "Are you feeling better at all today?" Better wasn't the right word but Mabel decided it was close enough. She nodded. "I'm glad, yesterday looked like it was so rough on you.

"I'm going to make breakfast this morning, any requests?" Mabel frowned. Requests? Really? Her mother shook her head when she didn't respond. "Sorry. How about waffles? You haven't had those in a while?" Mabel nodded, although not emphatically. Waffles were fine. "Alright, see you downstairs when you're ready."

Her mother began to walk off and Mabel let out a sigh. That had been a perfectly normal conversation with her mother, she had half expected her mom to drop another bombshell -

"Oh, and you also have another appointment today," said her mom from behind her. Mabel slouched, there it was. "The results from your MRI are in. We have an appointment to review them this afternoon." Mabel nodded again, not acknowledging that she was okay with this, just that it was what she had expected. "Now, go get dressed and I'll get breakfast ready."

She did get dressed, opening her closet much sooner than the her of that morning had planned to. She picked out her clothing but couldn't stop her eyes from returning to the forbidden drawer over and over.

No. She wasn't going to hide in her fantasy world anymore. She was done with sweater town. In fact, she wasn't even going to wear a sweater today.

She closed her closet more forcefully than she had meant before leaving her room without selecting a sweater. She made her way downstairs. Breakfast was not ready when she arrived. Her mother was still preparing it. Mabel sat at the table anyhow, taking her usual place and trying to look anywhere but the chair across from her.

When she finally did look at the empty spot, she realized it hadn't been set. There was no placemat, no napkin, no silverware. Her spot, her Dad's spot - to the right - and her mom's spot - to the left - were all placed and ready. But Dipper's was not. Again, she didn't know how to feel about that. It was just a chair now, just like the room upstairs was just a room.

Her father joined them for breakfast. While she hadn't been looking forward to waffles, she did very much enjoy them, drowning them in syrup until they were just a sticky mess. She loved to fill each little pocket to the brim, before moving onto the next and doing the same. It reminded her of honey in beehives! And she was the queen bee come to eat it all up. There was also bacon, turkey bacon (obviously), that she also drown in syrup. Overall it was a good breakfast, an almost normal breakfast.

She also noticed that there were just enough waffles for the three of them, with only a half waffle left that no one had room for. That was when it sort of hit her. They were getting used to this, all of them. They were accepting it like it was real, like Dipper was actually gone. She finally, FINALLY, realized that he was gone. She realized that she wasn't a twin or a sibling anymore. She was just Mabel, just her. And still she didn't feel anything.

After breakfast, she made her way to the couch in the living room. She flipped on the TV, not bothering to change the channel. She took her spot on the couch, the spot on the right. The right… That had always been her side. Their rooms upstairs, she was on the right side of the hall. The car, she always took the right seat in back. Their beds in Gravity Falls, her's had been on the right. She had always been the right twin… which made Dipper what? The wrong twin?

She lay herself across the couch. She wasn't going to stay right. She was going to be both, all sides, every spot. She wasn't a twin anymore.

* * *

They didn't have to wait long before a doctor came to collect them out of the waiting room. He didn't lead them to an examination room. Mabel wasn't forced to wear some stupid hospital gown thingy. Instead, he took them to his office.

The room was how Mabel expected the office of a doctor to look. Several degrees and awards were hung on the wall behind the large oak desk. Two large windows let in the afternoon light. And three, not as comfy as she would have liked, chairs had been set out for them to sit in.

Her parents took the seats to the right and left, leaving her only the option of taking the middle chair. The Doctor smiled at her from behind his desk. He was middle aged, clean shaven and had curly brown hair, much like her's, just shorter. There were bright blue eyes behind his glasses that Mabel couldn't help but find reassuring.

"Mr. and Ms. Pines, thank you for coming," he said, shaking their hands. "And you must be Mabel?" She nodded. He smiled at her, but did not offer a hand. "My name is Doctor Locke, I'm a Neurosurgeon. I specialize in diagnosing and treating brain disorders. I've been doing this for almost twenty years." Mabel nodded, because, that seemed like what she was expected to do. "I've been looking over your test results and file for the past few days but before we talk about the them, I want to tell you a little bit about the process.

"We used a special machine call a Magnetic Resonance Imager. It takes very detailed, very tiny pictures of the inside of your body," explained Doctor Locke. Mabel remembered the very uncomfortable, very loud, machine she had spent hours in. "We use extremely powerful software, and highly trained specialist to put the pieces together. It's a bit like a complicated three-dee jigsaw puzzle. We do this a number of times, to ensure we have the most accurate results we can get."

On either side her parents were nodding, she just looked straight ahead. Doctor Locke hit a few strokes on his keyboard and a second screen, positioned so that Mabel and her parents could see it, came to life.

The screen had a gray scale image of what seemed to be the inside of her brain. It looked a lot like other images she had seen over the years on tv shows. And, just like the shows, she couldn't make heads or tails of it. Ha! Heads.

"I want to draw your attention here," said Doctor Locke. A red circle appeared around a small white spot that looked like a chunk of fat in a piece of meat. "You see that spot that looks out of place?" Her parents nodded again. "In a healthy brain her age, there shouldn't be anything there, it should look like this." The image changed and another image, of a slightly different brain, appeared. The ridges and folds in the image didn't match exactly but the white spot was clearly absent. He flipped the images back. The white patch was now like a hole in the middle of her brain.

"So," said Doctor Locke, pressing the tips of his fingers together. "I don't want you to panic. It's good that we found this when we did but it does appear that your daughter has a tumor in her brain. About the size of a nickel," the doctor held up his hand, making a circle with his thumb and forefinger. Both her parents gasped in horror but Mabel just sat there, not sure how to react to the news. "Pressed up right against the Broca area of her brain. The part of the brain responsible for speech.

"Now, it's still fairly small, so it might be benign," continued Doctor Locke. "There's a very small possibility, it's just imaging distortion, I understand you have braces and that can interfere with the scan. There was also some weird interference the first time the tech tried, so there might have been a calibration error.

"That being said, I'm fairly confident these images are accurate. Even still, I want to do a second scan, just to be sure.

"If it is a tumor, you have some options, depending on what the second scan tells us. If it stays small, like this one appears to be, it can possibly remain without issue. But, if it has enlarged than there is the possibility it's malignant. Because of it's location, it cannot be surgically removed without significant damage." Mabel didn't feel super comfortable with anyone poking around inside her head anyhow.

"Is this what - " her mother began, but stopped, rephrasing her words. "Is this why she's having trouble talking?"

"It could be," answered Doctor Locke with a nod. "It's positioning is right to be the cause of her Aphasia. Tumors like this can also result in loss of memory, hallucinations and disorientation. It can also cause headaches, loss of appetite and fatigue as well. Has Mabel been sleeping a lot or skipping meals?" Both her parents nodded. It was like she wasn't even in the room.

"Alright, well, caution is the best way for us to approach this," said Doctor Locke after a moment of thoughtfulness. "I have you scheduled to use our second MRI machine today. It was just recalibrated this morning, so, there shouldn't be any issues this time. We'll see what the results look like and take it from there."

The doctor stood, offering his hand once more to her parents, obviously dismissing them. Mabel just slumped in her chair, a frown fixed on her face.

* * *

The second time in the big machine was just as awful as the previous time. Mabel was made to change into the stupid backless hospital gown again. And she was made to lay upon the uncomfortable bed for a long while as the machine thudded and clunked around her. AND she was made to turn over once again as the tech complained of interference. Man, these stupid braces! Although, even the tech seemed confused, muttering that the braces shouldn't have been an issue.

After far, far, far too long of lying uncomfortably face down, Mabel was finally able to redress and go home.

The car drive was almost unbearable. Not because it was in silence but because it was the opposite. Her parents fretted and worried the whole drive.

And of course, OF COURSE, the moment she had gotten into the car, her insides began to twist. Stupid body, all it did was turn on her. First the braces, then her period thing and now a brain tumor? Was she like some kind of punching bag?

Words floated over her that she only half listened to. Bits and pieces of the conversation made it to her brain but she largely ignored what was being whispered in the front seats.

" - have the results tomorrow - " her mother was saying.

"Will our insurance even cover - " asked her father.

"I can't lose… not her too…" wept her mother.

Getting home couldn't have come soon enough. Mabel was thankful to be out of the car, thankful to get away. Thankful to be back in her room. Her insides hadn't settled down. It felt like someone had taken hold of a spot just below her bellybutton and was twisting it all around. She hated this. She hated all of this!

She flopped down on her bed and her head whacked into something hard and unexpected under her pillow. She reached under and found the journal she had hidden there that morning. Why had Dipper kept it under his pillow anyhow, it was really uncomfortable. She ran a hand along it's cover before flipping it open and finding a random entry.

 _Tuesday, October 30th, 2012 - Coach Feratu_

 _Mabel thinks that our gym teacher might be a vampire. There appears to be strong evidence to support this. One of our lunch ladies woke up in the gym with bite marks on her neck!_

Here there had been a photo pasted into the book of said lunch lady, with two small red dots on her neck. Mabel remembered having printed this out for Dipper during their investigation. She smiled.

 _Furthermore, no one has ever seen Coach Feratu outside of Gym class, or outside, ever! We also found bats in the boys locker room, real life bats, not the baseball kind. And Mabel discovered an actual coffin in his office when she_ _broke_ _\- found the door conveniently unlocked and totally didn't use a hairpin to force her way in. Mabel volunteered to skip class so she could tail him. I suspect her motives but agree that we need more intel._

She smiled even broader. She remembered ditching class to hunt a vampire. It had seemed like it was going to be so cool!

 _Unfortunately, after a few hours, Mabel discovered that the whole thing was a hoax. Which makes sense considering that Halloween is tomorrow. It looks like the coach is off the hook for now. We'll have to keep an eye on him._

She flipped forward to another entry and still another. But there weren't that many left. His last entry was Tuesday, November 13th. This one was about a haunted house a city over from them. Dipper had been collecting research on it for weeks but this was his first official entry. The last words on the page were:

 _This weekend I'm going to try and convince Mabel to come investigate it with me. It's been awhile since we had a real adventure together, and I think this would be great! Just the two of us, Mystery Twins!_

She smiled sadly at the page. If things hadn't gone so wrong… She had dreamed what their adventures in the future were going to be like. She had seen what lay ahead of them, the excitement, the danger, the fame. They had been destined for great things.

Maybe she would go explore that haunted house on her own. Continue the journal, the work her brother had dedicated his life too. Maybe she could still do great things on her own! Yes. She wasn't just going to lay here like some lump. She wasn't going to just dream away her life. She was going to do something. She was going to do this!

She sat up in bed, just about ready to sprint out of her room, when her eyes fell on the blacklight sitting on her nightstand. She snatched up the handheld device and flicked it on over the page. There was indeed writing here but it was what she had expected. There were notes, extra details, a hidden smiley face that she herself had drawn in (she had hidden things all through Dipper's journal when he wasn't looking).

She flipped forward to the next page, a blank page. Green letters began to spread across the paper as the hidden entry poured itself out. It was dated for November 16th, 2012, that… that was the day after Dipper had died. She read on.

 _Plans for the ghost hunt have been put on hold due to unforeseen consequences. I am currently stuck in bed, recovering. Both my left arm and leg are broken. Man I was lucky, it could have been so much worse!_

 _I thought this would be wasted time and a lost opportunity, however, my sister has proven me wrong. She has been invaluable, bringing me research materials so I can continue to prepare. Not sure how long I'll be here._

Mable paused. What was this? It didn't make any sense? Could it have been dated wrong? No. No it came after the previous entry which matched up with what Dipper had been doing. This had to be the next entry.

But the date... There was no way he could have written it… This… this was freaking her out… But she couldn't stop, not yet. She had to know more. The page was divided into several entries, each dated a few days apart.

 _November 18th, 2012_

 _Still stuck in bed but only for another day or so. Research continues. I wanted to keep this whole adventure a surprise for my sister until everything was ready, but she is practically living in my hospital room at the moment while I recover. So, I told her what I was up to and she couldn't have been more delighted to be a part of it. She is very much up for a good old fashioned ghost hunting stakeout._

 _November 20th, 2012_

 _Back home at last, prep work continues. I've had to order some of the things I need online, but they should be here in time. We are only a few days from the weekend now and I can barely hold in my excitement! Not exactly sure what we're going to tell our parents about this. They think I should be taking it easy right now, although I am going back to school next week. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to take it easy._

 _November 23th, 2012_

 _Getting around has been difficult but I'm managing. We're only a few hours away from the start of our adventure to Akrwuld Manor, the haunted house I've been working so hard on (see notes on page 42, 43, 51 and 52). Mabel has come up with the perfect excuse for our parents to explain where we are going to be all weekend. Camping. So simple I'm not sure why I didn't think of it. And technically, correct._

 _When they asked how I planned to hike in my current condition, she had the perfect answer for that too. 'We're going camping! Not hiking! Geeze!' We are kind of lucky our parents aren't really the outdoors types._

 _Preparations are almost complete. (See my ghost defense and survival checklist)_

 _A silver mirror, scented candles, hol-E water (from ), my camera with night vision lens -_ Mabel scanned down the long list of items Dipper was bringing with - _sleeping bags and food._

 _That should be everything. I can't wait for this adventure! This last week has totally sucked. I'm so glad my sister is here for me._

Mabel stopped at the bottom of the page. A brief glance to the next page revealed the actual adventure with the ghost stakeout but she had started crying and it was becoming impossible to read. Also, her brain was screaming at her. What the heck was this? This hadn't happened! None of this had happened!

Dipper had never broken either an arm or a leg, let alone both at once! She was absolutely sure that would be something she would remember!

Nor had they gone to a haunted house! She did vaguely recall Dipper mentioning that he was looking into something with ghosts a few weeks back… but, that couldn't be this same thing… could it?

She wiped at her eyes but the tears kept coming, making reading too difficult. She flipped the book forward. There was another entry hidden in the blacklight. She flipped forward again and found another and another and another.

This book wasn't blank at all. It was filled, all the way to the end with the last entry in February of 2016. Mabel could vaguely recall that her brother had gotten a second journal. No. No, that was a dream. This wasn't real.

She recoiled from the book like it was something foul. It dropped to the floor with a thud and its cover flipped closed. The book bounced once over and landed face down. Mabel could see something else, glowing faintly out of the reach of the blacklight still in her hand.

Slowly, she got off her bed and crawled towards the fallen book. She lifted the blacklight over it and a green five pointed star shimmered into view on the back with the words: _Dipper and Mabel's Guide to the Unknown._ Mabel dropped the light.

It was real. Hot-Belgian-waffles. It was all real.

* * *

Mabel paced back and forth in her room. She had turned on the strings of modified christmas lights that hung above her bed. They helped her think and they looked pretty. The journal lay closed and face down on one side of her bed. On the other side was her shooting star sweater. Yep, she had taken it back out. Not even a day. She hadn't made it one day.

She stopped her pacing and looked between them. She flicked the blacklight back on, pointing it at the book and the five pointed star appeared again. Mabel flicked the light off. Sprinkles-and-hot-sauce, it was real. Sweater town was real. And somehow everything her brother had written in his journal there, had made it here. No. It was the same journal, in two different places. Mabel felt her brain seize over the unreasonable logic she was trying to create.

No. More likely, she had made this all up. The doctor had said that the thing in her brain might cause memory loss and hallucinations. Wasn't it far more likely she had written all this and forgotten about doing it? Her eyes traveled to exhibit C, which lay open on the floor. Her dream journal, not written in invisible ink.

She had tried filling out more pages but there was just a single word repeating over and over. _Dipper_. She had even tried placing stickers and writing 'boop' as she put them in the book but that hadn't worked. She also used the blacklight on that book too, just to be sure it wasn't hiding anything from her. It was secret message free.

Her attention returned to Dipper's journal. Okay, so, she hadn't written this, that she could remember. It contained events that hadn't happened yet. Events that could never happen. Things like the adventure in the haunted house that she had read in detail but never experienced. It was real, like, really, real.

She was hesitant to read any further in the book, what if it messed up the timeline or something? Although her brain confirmed that was unlikely. Still, that wasn't the problem she was facing.

The problem now was what she was going to do about it. She had decided she was not going back to sweater town, she was not going to live that lie anymore. Her brother had fought so hard to save her from the fantasy world of MabelLand and bring her back to reality. Was she just going to throw that all away and live in a different make believe world the rest of her life?

Except, this wasn't a fantasy world anymore. She had proof. _Or you're going crazy_ , her brain helpfully reminded her. She didn't listen to its advice. When had her brain ever helped her? It had already betrayed her by putting this stupid thing inside her head.

She knew what the answer was. What she needed to do.

She lifted her sweater off the bed. Just one more time. Maybe she could fix everything, she just needed to find _him_.

* * *

Mabel tried her best to pay the utmost attention to her entry into sweater town. She had fallen down the sweater hole many times but she had never really actively tried to wrap her thoughts around it. She had seen it, she had felt it but she had never truly experienced it. Before now it had been like staring out the car window at a field as they drove past. Now, it was more like she was walking the field.

The feeling of falling she had always come to expect wasn't falling at all. It wasn't floating or drifting or shrinking or anything like that. It was - was like she stayed perfectly still and the world bent around her, moved in a way that worlds didn't move.

She tried to pay more attention to her body, how it felt. She could sense all her limbs and where they were. She was curled up, legs tucked in tight, arms around her knees. She was just as she had been when she had crawled inside her sweater.

She stretched out, arms and legs extending as far as she could reach, though, not far enough to touch the walls of the sweater sky. She wiggled her fingers and they moved just like she expected. She wiggled her toes, and they at least felt like they moved. She was wearing socks so she couldn't see them.

Her eyes fell on her clothing. It was the same as she had been wearing, all except the sweater she was now inside of. Well, okay, she hadn't checked every last bit, but her shirt and skirt and socks all looked the same.

She tried to move her head around, to look left and right and down. However, when she moved her head she was greeted with the oddest sensation. Her head moved, her eyes shifted, but the world stayed exactly the same. No matter where she looked the shrinking neck hole stayed perfectly center. The long walls of wool wrapped out around her, growing ever more distant.

It was like the world was painted onto her eyes and direction had no meaning at all.

Then, just like always, she felt her weight return. She landed with a soft thump in a sitting position. She payed special attention to her body this time as her descent into sweater town ended. She didn't feel it change but it was different. She could feel the tightness around her upper chest and the largeness of her flesh. She could feel her arm strange but familiar lenght. Her legs were harder to reason out because she was sitting. But she knew she was different than before.

She blinked against the bright light shining right into her eyes. There was something in front of her, people maybe? And, some kind of box thing, no, a couple box things. And someone was talking, talking to her?

"Hey, Mabel, don't leave us hanging here," said an all too familiar voice.

Mabel squinted, trying to sort out what was going on. She couldn't see very much against the light. She moved her fingers and felt wood and glass beneath them. Glancing down she saw a very thin tablet computer in front of her with words on it. One of her hands rested on the tablet and the other on a wooden table that she and - Mabel looked sideways and received a shock.

Dipper, a much, much older than she remembered Dipper was sitting next to her, an eyebrow raised in confusion. There was also a slight look of worry on his face.

"Dipper?" she asked, having no idea what the heck was going on or why Dipper was looking the way he did. She knew each time she came back they were a year older and she hadn't come to sweater town yesterday, so, it must be two years later. Dipper didn't look two years older. He looked many years older.

"Uh, alright, I think we're just going to move onto our next question here," said Dipper looking away from her and back out into the light. Mabel returned her attention forward too, only just noticing something down in the shadows below the lights. It looked like another screen that had glowing words scrolling across it. Mabel began to read to herself, but Dipper started speaking them out loud.

"Are you guys still planning on traveling across the states and fighting monsters? From: *SuperHatfan02," read Dipper. Her brother chuckled. Mabel still had no idea what the heck was going on. Who was Dipper talking to? Was there an audience out beyond those lights? If there was, they were being really quiet. "Yeah, I know we've talked about it a couple times. Mabel had a great idea about broadcasting the whole thing live and we're still working out the details. But there's the real possibility we might take this show on the road and travel the U.S., fighting monsters, ghosts and helping out where we can. Right, Mabel?" Dipper looked to her and she nodded. Dipper frowned.

"Hey guys, one more question here then we're gonna call it for today," said Dipper. "I think my sis might be getting a little worn out." New text appeared on the screen in front of them. "You wanna take this last one, Mabel?" She shook her head. Dipper didn't frown exactly, but the corner of his mouth twitched ever so slightly. "Alright, geez you always make me do the hard work!" he said jokingly.

"When is the next season of Guide to the Unknown going to start? From: *dipperIloveyousomuch," Dipper laughed. "Great name, thanks. Well," he looked over at Mabel, "the two of us have been really hard at work. And I think I'm okay to announce, stop me if I'm not allowed - " Dipper paused to let her answer. She just smiled weakly at him. He turned back to look into the lights. "Season two of Guide to the Unknown will start next week, at the end of July."

Movement made Mabel glance down at her tablet. What she had thought was static text had started to move at an alarming rate, scrolling by so fast she hardly had time to read any of it. She caught bits and pieces of it.

"OMG! NEXT WEEK!"

"MABEL I LOVE YOU! SAY MY NAME! ITS IHEARTMABLEFOREVER99!"

"Why isn't she saying anything?"

"Pine hat 4life!"

"New Season! New Season! New Season!"

"buy !"

"I love your vampire sweater! its so hot!"

"SPAM BOT HAS BAN USER cheapshirts"

"XDXDXDXDXDXD!"

Mabel looked up from the blur of crawling text, her head spinning.

"That concludes this live stream of Ask the Twins!" said Dipper. "This is Mabel," he pointed to her and paused expecting her to say something, it took her a moment to remember what.

"Dipper," she said.

"Signing off, see you all next adventure!" said Dipper, waving to the lights. Mabel did the same, trying her best to smile.

"And, we're clear dudes," said Soos from some place she couldn't see. Instantly the blinding lights switched off and she could see the three cameras that had been placed below the lights. One camera was pointed at Dipper, the other was pointed at her and the third seemed to be far enough back so it could get them both. "Great show dudes! You guys are blowing up! Your Chirper channel is getting flooded and Twitching shows us at peeking just over 2 million viewers for that."

"Cool, Soos, thanks," said Dipper. He was unclipping a mic that Mabel hadn't noticed until that moment from his shirt. "I need a word with my sister. Uh, can you clear the room for us? I'll find you when we're done and we can talk metrics, okay?"

"Sure thing, boss," replied Soos. "Alright guys, let's give them some space. Everyone take ten!" Mabel watched as almost a dozen people around the room, none of them she recognized, left whatever they were doing and made their way out. They chatted excitedly to one another. She had no idea what was going on.

A young woman, in her late teens maybe, who had been waiting off to the side started to hurry towards them. The first thing Mabel noticed about her was the shooting star ballcap she was wearing. What was her shooting star doing on a hat? That was so strange. The second thing she noticed was what looked like two metal sticks in her arms. One was colored pink and the other blue. Mabel was trying to figure out what they were.

"Thank you, Elena," said Dipper waving her away. "We won't need those right now." The young woman stopped, looked at the things in her arms then looked at Mabel in confusion.

"But doesn't - " she began.

"Thank you." Dipper repeated a bit more loudly, clearly dismissing her. The teen nodded, looking confused, then turned and left with whatever it was she was carrying. She wasn't more than halfway to the door when another tiny person rushed past her, a child. She rushed up to the table that Mabel and her brother were sitting at and to Mabel's great surprise the little girl hugged her.

"Uncle Dipper, Uncle Dipper!" cried the little girl. "Can we go on an adventure today! Please, please, please, please, please, ple-" the girl chanted until Dipper cut her off.

"Not today, Abby," said Dipper.

Mabel looked down. Wait. Abby as in Soos and Melody's daughter? Mabel had to look again. The little girl had on a blue ballcap just like Dipper's. Her brown hair was tied off in cute little pigtails and she was dressed in blue overalls with a pink shirt underneath. She looked… she looked so much older! She had only been one or two the last time Mabel had seen her. Now this girl had to be what, seven, eight?

She also looked oddly familiar, like Mabel had seen her before. Maybe she had been older last time, and Mabel was just remembering it wrong? It was hard to keep this time thing straight.

"Awwww, but - " she started to complain.

"Not today, Abby," Dipper repeated slightly more harshly and the little girl fell quiet. "But we can go tomorrow, alright? Early in the morning. Wherever you want." Abby seemed to brighten at this. Mabel hadn't noticed it before but the little girl produced what appeared to be a journal from somewhere.

For one moment, Mabel thought it was their great uncle's journal, with the six fingered hand on it. It was a similar maroon color, and a gold foil emblem on the front. But instead of a six fingered hand, it was a eight pointed star, with the number 1 in the center. Mabel couldn't help but smile.

The little girl flipped it open and pointed to a page. Mabel smiled even broader. The entry was written in crayon and had copious amounts of stickers spread across it.

"This one, I want to go to this one again!" cried Abby . Mabel read the title, _Floating Falls. A waterfall that goes up into the sky and lets you float!_ Was as far as Mabel got before Dipper interrupted again with a laugh.

"Yes, alright Abby, now me and my Mystery Twin need to talk," said Dipper, rubbing her head through her ballcap. "Run along and find Melody, I'm sure you two can do something fun today, alright?" Abby pouted a little but finally nodded.

"Okay, Uncle Dipper," said the little girl at last. She gave Mabel another hug, then she gave Dipper a hug, then she scampered off.

Mabel watched her go, feeling more than a little confused. How had she gotten so big? Mabel looked towards her brother, seeking answers. She also noticed that he had put his hand on her shoulder at some point to keep her from standing.

"She's like family," said Dipper, and Mabel felt lost for a moment. What? "She used to call you Antie Mabel, but you told her that made you feel old. Usually she just calls you big sis." OH, right. Yeah, she guessed Soos was probably like family now after all they had been through. That was cute.

Dipper motioned for her to get up. She did so but got caught on some kind of wire. Her brother reached out and unclipped a mic from her sweater neck. With a bit of alarm, Mabel noticed which sweater she was wearing. Her fuchsia shooting star sweater. It was only the second time she had ever seen it in sweater town.

She ran a hand along it. There were no rips or tears anywhere in the garment. It looked brand new, well cared for, fuzzy, soft and everything she remembered and loved about it. Her eyes glanced up and she frowned. She was wearing it twice?

Dipper coughed and she was pulled out of her thoughts. He was still waiting for her to stand. She got to her feet and saw surprise in Dipper's eyes for just the briefest moment. He looked down at her legs, as if expecting to see something strange. She looked down too but beyond her pink skirt, they just looked like legs.

Dipper took her hand and led her out of the line of sight of the cameras. Her eyes and brain were still adjusting to just what the heck was going on, trying to take in all the unfamiliar stuff around her. Until, she realized it wasn't unfamiliar at all. The room dressing might have changed, but this was the Mystery Shack. Actually, this was one of the main attraction rooms that had housed the sashcrotch (and apparently it still did, it had just been placed off to the side) for so many years.

It wasn't surprising she hadn't recognized it. The room looked very different now. The table they had been sitting at had a wall painted a passive white-ish color behind it. There were no oddities in here, just equipment. Monitors, computers, wires and cameras to name a few. This place looked like some kind of movie set or something.

"Blueberry Muffins, Other Mabel," whispered Dipper as they came to a stop off to the side of the room. Mabel's eyes refocused on her brother. She nodded. "You're back… everyone thought, I mean, it's been so long." Mabel tilted her head to the side, so long? It had been a day, two at the most. Time might work a little different here but - "Five years," said Dipper in response to her unasked question.

She felt her mind go blank. No. No that wasn't possible. She had just missed one day. But Abby… she was so much older now...

"So, I guess there might be some catching up to do," muttered Dipper. "Look, I've got some cleanup to do after the show, okay? Why don't you go wait in our room, alright? Hold on, I need to - uh, talk to the staff. Elena is a great aid but man she can't leave you alone for five minutes! And we can't have her… She needs the day off, I'm going to go give her the day off. Just give me a second and then check to make sure the coast is clear and you can head up to our room. Alright?"

Mabel nodded, feeling confused and overwhelmed. She had an aid? Her eyes glanced around the unfamiliar surroundings. There were laptops and monitors and all sorts of equipment Mabel didn't recognize. It was like a whole production or something.

Following behind Dipper, he led her to the hallway. Sure enough, the girl named Elena was waiting out in the hall, still clutching to those strange colored poles. Mabel tried to figure out what they were but Dipper closed the door behind him before she could get a proper look.

"Hey, Elena, walk with me," she heard Dipper saying. Mabel waited until his voice faded then she poked her head out the door. There was no one in the hall. Why had she needed to wait until the coast was clear? Hadn't she just been sitting in front of a camera filming to, Soos had said two million people? It was a number too big for her to really comprehend.

She made her way out of the room. She was trying to piece together what the heck had just happened, what the heck was going on. Most of all though, she was trying to rationalize five years later. Her brain hurt just trying to work it out. Dipper looked so much older.

Mabel stopped walking then turned and darted to the nearest bathroom. It was still where she remembered it, although, a whole lot cleaner. She made her way to the mirror and looked at herself. Yep, she definitely had on her shooting star sweater, she was surprised it still fit. Something about her face was wrong, not just the older part but - she ran a finger along her rosy cheek, the red smeared - she was wearing makeup. When had that become a thing. She had only ever played around with it before but it was just for fun. She didn't recall ever having had it on in any previous visits.

Her own face also looked older, but it always did. She had never gotten used to the face she saw when it looked back at her in the glass. Was she taller, heavier, thinner? She couldn't tell. She looked like she remembered she should look but - jumping from a thirteen to… what was she now, thirty? No, no that seemed too old.

Mabel left the bathroom and climbed the stairs to the attic. About halfway up she thought that if they were so much older it was very unlikely they would still be sharing a room. But Dipper had said go wait in 'our' room.

She pushed open the door to the attic and was astounded by what she saw. Almost nothing had changed from how she remembered it. There were only three major differences. One, both their beds were much larger, though still pushed to opposite walls - she smiled, still the twin on the right. Two, desks had been added at the foot of each bed. There was a third thing too, she just had no idea what it was. Something else had changed, something was missing... but here at the same time.

Dipper's desk was covered in notes, papers and research and a general untidy mess. Mabel's desk was clean and neat, with only a closed lid laptop sitting in the middle. Briefly, she considered checking out the laptop, but no, later maybe.

She stood between the beds, deciding which one to sit on. Finally she picked her own. After sitting on the mattress she realized her desk had a chair. She could have just picked that but sitting in her bed felt more comfortable, more natural.

She didn't have to wait very long before Dipper showed up. He looked a little less calm than he had downstairs. He stopped at the door to the room, taking a deep breath like he was about to confront some terrible beast. Was she a terrible beast? Was her brother afraid of her?

Dipper sat on his own bed across from her, although, his eyes flicked over both his chair and her bed first. Mabel had the distinct impression he had been trying to decide where to sit as well.

"So," said Dipper, knitting his fingers together. He was rocking slightly in a way she had never seen him do before. "So…" his eyes snapped up to her. "I missed you, you know." That, that hadn't been what she was expecting. He had missed her? He wasn't mad she had been gone so long? He wasn't angry she was here now?

"What happened? Why didn't you come back?" asked Dipper. She frowned at him, really? He blinked hard and shook his head. "Sorry, it's… it's just been, so long, I forgot… you still can't talk, right?"

"Dipper," Mabel said with a slight shake of her head.

"I mean, beyond that," said Dipper. She nodded. "Right… right, guess I'm never going to know…" Yeah, that was probably true, there was no way she could relay all that had happened to her over the past couple days with head shakes. "Big stuff first then…" whispered Dipper. "They, they - uh, they're gone, Mabel." Mabel cocked her head to the side, no idea who had gone where. Could Dipper have played the pronoun game any harder?

"Ford and Stan," admitted Dipper softly. "Two years ago, a month apart."

Oh…

OH!

Tears were crawling down the sides of her face. She was gasping for air as her breath choked out of her in sobs. NO. OH NO. NO NO NO NO NO.

She felt her brother's arm around her, holding her tight as his words sunk in. She hadn't even noticed him come over to her bed.

"I'm sorry Mabel," whispered Dipper. She turned her face into his chest and buried her tears against his shirt. "I'm so sorry. I wasn't - I wasn't going to tell you. But starl - Original Mabel, she insisted you should know, if you ever came back." Mabel just clutched at Dipper's shirt, still sobbing into it. If only she had come back sooner, if only…

No, they were alive and fine in her world. The sobs didn't stop but they became less of a choking hazard for her. Dipper patted her on the back.

 _It's a dream, remember, a fantasy, no matter how messed up it all is, this isn't real._

She finally managed to bring her uncontrolled sobs under control. Tears were still leaking down her face, she couldn't stop them, but they weren't completely debilitating.

"It was hard - hard on everyone," said Dipper. "Great Uncle Ford left us the Mystery Shack and we turned it into our production studio and our home." She was finally able to put her finger on that third thing about the room she hadn't been able to place. There was no luggage. They weren't visiting Gravity Falls anymore, they lived here.

"I guess that's the next big point, so, you remember that UsTube thing?" he asked. She nodded, of course she did. "Right, right, well, uh, that continued to grow. That's our full time job now. We make mystery solving videos together. Not just for UsTube anymore but also ComFlix and we're in talks with Bisney Animation Studios to produce a cartoon series of our adventures.

"We have to change our names obviously, we've been leaning towards Alex and Ariel instead of, you know, our names. You think, I mean, Original Mabel thinks, my character should have a nickname instead of using his real name, just like I do - but I don't know… And we're going to have to change the city name too. I was thinking Boring Oregon," Dipper shook his head. "Sorry, I'm rambling a bit, maybe I should back up a little?" Mabel nodded, still trying to absorb everything her brother had just said.

"Okay, so, I think you were last here in our second year of college, right?" asked Dipper. That sounded right? Mabel nodded. "We made it to our third year and decided to drop out. Our UsTube channel was exploding and we just couldn't keep up with school work and continue to produce videos. Mom and Dad obviously wanted us to stay but when we explained that at our current income we would be able to pay off our student loans in two years, there wasn't a lot more reasons for them to argue with us."

Mabel frowned, that didn't sound like their mom at all. There was no way she would ever let either of them drop out of school. Although, Mabel hadn't been to school for a long while now, maybe it wasn't so far fetched…

"After that, we just kept making videos and we just kept becoming more popular. We were wrong about paying off our student loans in two years though. It was only six months. We've been able to hire a full time staff, buy equipment and go on trips to remote locations. I mean, this thing is huge. We're huge!"

Mabel continued to nod, it was way too much to take in.

"We just kept living here after college. We did try moving out once but well, that didn't go so well. We came back here after only a couple months,," explained Dipper. "I mean, you know we never really got along with mom and dad…" That was a bit harsh but… accurate. "Soos and his family live here too, you met their oldest, Abby. They also have a son,. Soos Jr, he's three and a half. Soos is head of our production staff, he handles a lot of the technical work. But he also makes guest appearances on the show as Mr. Mystery from time to time."

Mabel nodded, she would like to meet them all at some point. She had seen Abby this morning but she had never even met their other child. She also wanted to see their staff, her aid, Soos and Melody, her friends, everyone. Although, right now, she was a bit more curious about her and her brother.

She poked Dipper softly in his chest. He looked at her perplexed. She poked herself, then raised her hands in a questioning manner.

"I mean, we make videos," said Dipper. She rolled her hands as if to say 'and?' "That's a full time job, Mabes." For five years of stuff, he had given her a woefully inaccurate account. Her eyes slid past him and over to her laptop. She might find answers there. Of course, she might also find horrible comments there too.

"Thinking about looking at her computer?" asked Dipper, following her gaze. Mabel smiled mischievously. "I don't know her password." Mabel blew a raspberry at him. 'Pfft' she knew her password. Probably. "Yeah, you probably don't know it either… Look, how about instead of poking around in her life we get outa the house or something. Not an adventure, just an - excursion."

Actually, that sounded kind of good. As curious as she was about her other life, that wasn't the reason she had come back. She had come back because… because of something she needed to see. Something she remembered from a dream. She nodded.

"Great. Wait here and I'll go grab us some snacks and stuff. There's a great spot out by the lake that -" began Dipper but she was shaking her head. "Not by the lake?" She shook her head again. "Did you have someplace else in mind?" Nod. "Alright," said Dipper with a shrug. "Let me get us lunch and then you can lead on.."

Dipper returned with a reusable grocery bag, packed with sandwiches, fruit slices and soda from downstairs. The food looked professionally made too. As Dipper showed her the assortment, her's was turkey. Nice. She didn't see, but strongly suspected that Dipper's was tuna. Dipper led her out the back and she noticed that they oddly didn't bump into anyone on their way out.

Not that she minded too much. It wasn't like she could say anything to anyone, anything that would make sense. Maybe that was why Dipper was trying to get her to avoid everyone, he didn't want them to know she was here? Why did he care?

They set off. Dipper taking them on the shortest path to the woods before letting her take the lead. She wasn't sure why she wanted to lead. She wasn't sure why she was going where she was going. But she was. She had to.

"Man, I haven't been out this way in forever," said Dipper as they climbed over a small hill. The trees were thick here and Mabel could hear the sound of flowing water in the distance. This was the right direction for sure.

After another hour of hiking, Mabel signaled them to stop for lunch by a stream. Her eyes ran across the ground, over the stump and the fallen log. It was just how she remembered it. Just as she had dreamed it.

"Is this the place?" asked Dipper as he opened his daypack. She nodded. "It's nice. I like it." He handed her a sandwich and a root beer.

Mabel had been right about the sandwiches. Dipper did indeed have tuna, and her's was indeed turkey. She had guessed completely wrong about the drink though. It wasn't root beer. It was actual, nasty, real beer. Not what she had expected on her first sip.

With a choking cough, she spat it out, looking at Dipper in alarm. They were way too young to be… oh, no they weren't. Well, he wasn't… she wasn't?

"You okay there, Mabes?" asked Dipper with concern. "I know it's a little warm but I didn't think it was that bad." He took another sip of his. She tried her's again, it smelled awful. Why did anyone drink this stuff? It tasted… well, not good. Not horrible. It was like drinking smelly bubbly water. She frowned after the second sip. "If you don't want it, I'll finish it. I brought water too if you want that."

She nodded, handing off the glass bottle and gratefully taking the refillable metal canteen instead.

They finished lunch with few words. Dipper was busy eating and she, well, she didn't have a lot she could say. When they were done, Dipper packed away their trash, including the two empty bottles, into the day pack. Then they continued on.

It wasn't much longer until they reached the glade that had been in her dream. She couldn't say why she was going there. She didn't know what she was hoping to find. And even if she found what she expected to be there, what was she going to do about it. There wasn't really a plan in her head. It was more like - like she had to do this. Like this was important.

"Something doesn't feel right," whispered Dipper. She had just noticed it too. She wasn't sure what had been off until her brother spoke. The forest around them had gone silent. No birds chirping, no insects buzzing, just quiet, emptiness.

Then she saw it up ahead. From this distance it just looked like a rock.

"Maybe we should turn back," said Dipper, grabbing her arm. "This place… something's wrong with it." Gently, she pulled free of his grip on her arm, instead, taking his hand. She urged him forward and Dipper nodded, concern in his eyes.

She could tell that as they got closer, Dipper had noticed the odd shaped rock ahead of them. His steps slowed, and he dragged behind her.

"Mabel… no, no way, that's… that's," stammered Dipper. They were finally close enough to make out the familiar triangular shape. "Mabel, it's Bill!" cried Dipper, shaking his arm at the statue just ahead of them. His other hand still gripped hers tightly. "Why the heck are we out at a statue of - "

His eyes suddenly flashed to her. His gaze was filled with fear and suspicion. He yanked his hand free and backpedaled away from her.

"No, no, no," whispered Dipper. "No, you aren't Mabel at all!" That caught her off guard, of course she was. "OH! I'm so stupid! Bill! It's you! It's always been you! There was no 'Other Mabel!' It was you taking control of her from the start!"

Her eyes went wide. What? No! She was shaking her head. No, Dipper had it all wrong.

"How could I have been so blind! This whole time, everything, it's just been a trick to lure me out here?" cried Dipper. No! No! That wasn't it at all! She rushed towards Dipper to grab him. But he stepped away, his eyes flashing dangerously and she stopped.

"Was this what you wanted? To mess with me?" asked Dipper. She kept shaking her head. "To mess with my sister and our lives?" No, Dipper had it all wrong. She hadn't -

" _Ha! Not even close, Pine Tree_ ," came a high pitched voice that echoed all around them. Mabel and Dipper both froze. Slowly their eyes turned towards the statue of Bill. " _Oh no, it's Bill! That's what you're both thinking, right?_ " The twins stood as still as statues, not daring to move or speak or even breathe. " _Hello, I'm talking to you Pine Tree. I would talk to your sister, because she isn't the stupid one but I think we both know her answer._ "

"You can't be real," said Dipper. "We beat you, we erased you. You're gone!"

" _Ha! You think a little thing like erasing me from existence can stop me?_ " said Bill's disembodied voice.

"Uh, yes?" answered Dipper with a shrug.

" _ **WRONG!**_ " shouted Bill, and the whole forest shuddered around them. " _I just had to get free of the meat prison you locked me up in first. Of course, now I'm just stuck - Look, I'm getting off track. I know why you're here, why you're both here._ " Dipper looked at Mabel, his stare still icy. " _She wants her brother back and you want your sister back. Am I right?_ "

"I have my sister," whispered Dipper coldly.

" _Sure you do, kid_ ," laughed Bill. " _Anyhow. All you have to do is shake my hand and I can make it happen. Anything you want. Anyone you want. Just come on over and take it._ "

"Do you think we're stupid?" asked Dipper.

" _Yes?_ " answered Bill, sounding slightly confused. " _I thought that much was obvious. But that's not the point. I've got infinite cosmic power! I can give you anything you want!_ "

Dipper took a few steps back over to Mabel and grabbed her around the shoulder.

"I already have everything I want," said Dipper. She felt herself blush slightly. This… the way Dipper had grabbed her, the way he was talking, it made her feel so strange.

" _Yeah, I'll bet_ ," said Bill his tone flat and disbelieving. " _You keep telling yourself that. And how about you, shooting star? You have everything you want?_ " Mabel looked away. " _That's what I thought. Come on, you know why you're here, what it is you want to do. Just shake my hand and I can make it all the way it's supposed to be. Just how you want it to be._ "

Mabel bit her lip. Then she shook her head. Never, she would never make a deal with Bill. She grabbed Dipper's hand and began to pull him away. The laughter returned.

" _Don't worry, you'll be back, the both of you,_ " shouted Bill's voice in her head. Mabel kept walking, kept pulling her brother further away.

They kept going in silence for almost thirty minutes. It wasn't until the sounds of chirping birds and babbling brooks returned that Dipper finally tugged them to a stop.

"Mabel," said Dipper, his voice low. She didn't turn to look at him, instead wrapping her arms around herself. Dipper put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry. That - I know it's you in there. I was just freaked out." She didn't say anything. She heard Dipper gulp. "How - how did you know…" he trailed off. "Did you know we would find Bill out here?"

She closed her eyes and nodded. Stupid. Why had she brought them out here? Why had she payed any attention to that nightmare at all?

"I tried to ask you a long time ago," said Dipper. "And - well, I think my Mabel knows but she won't tell me. Why are you in sweater town?" She finally turned to look Dipper in the eyes. She tried to will her thoughts across, to make him understand without saying. "Still don't have the twin telepathy thing," joked Dipper with a smile.

She sighed. Then she poked him hard in the chest.

"Ouch," said Dipper. "What was that for." She poked him again, maybe a little harder than before. "Okay, look, I'm sorry I asked." She sighed in frustration. He could be so thick sometimes. "It's getting pretty late, we should head back to the shack. I've got a lot of work to get done." Mabel just nodded and followed as Dipper led the way back.

She spared one last glance behind her towards where the statue of Bill lay, where it had spoken to them, drawn them in like a honey pot. She could never make a deal with Bill… but still… could he really give her brother back?


	10. Chapter 10 - The Video

Sweater Town

Chapter 10 – The Phone

By Starwin

* * *

 _(Notes from the author included at the end)_

* * *

It wasn't like waking up.

It wasn't like dreaming.

It wasn't like anything Mabel had ever experienced before.

She was still in sweater town, walking - no - limping, beside a boy that looked so familiar, yet strange. He was half carrying her as she stumbled forward. Her arm was draped over his shoulders and she could feel that her leg wasn't working right. The joint felt stiff and whenever she put any weight on it there was a twinge of could feel that something in her leg was wrong and that it had been wrong for a long while now.

Even stranger she was having trouble moving any part of her body, not just her leg. It was like she had lost control of herself? No, that wasn't it. It was like her body was moving on its own.

What really caught her attention was something completely unrelated to her body. Well, okay, it was still technically coming from her body. More accurately the strangeness was coming from her mouth. _She_ was talking. She was having a conversation with the person next to her. A conversation where every word out of her lips wasn't 'Dipper.'

Except, it wasn't her talking. It was her voice but it wasn't her.

Sound drifted in and out as parts of the conversation slipped through her brain. She caught words and glimpses of thought but she was having a hard time making sense of any of it.

" - middle of the forest?" she heard herself ask.

"Yes," answered the boy half carrying her. Mabel recognized him, knew his name, it was on the tip of her tongue but she just couldn't get it out.

"But it's like noon or something?" said the voice that spoke for her. "How's this possible? I thought she always stayed until midnight."

"Yeah, well, I thought so too," answered the boy. No, her brother. Why did he look so much older? "Maybe we really don't know anything about her after all. She _has_ been missing for five years."

"I told you she'd come back, she always comes back," she said. "I just wish she had left a little closer to home. Now you have to carry me back." She felt her face smile at him and he grunted as he adjusted his hold on her. She continued to limp. What was wrong with her leg? "You could always give me a piggyback ride, I'm not that heavy you know."

"I just might," he said, readjusting his position again.

"Maybe her leaving so soon has to do with how long she's been gone?" she suggested.

"Maybe," grunted her brother. "It could be that as the woolhole collapses, time gets stretched out? I can only speculate."

"You didn't answer my first question, bro-boy," she said, and there was a strange tone in her voice. "What are we doing out here? You didn't bring any filming equipment, so it isn't for another adventure." He stayed silent. Why was she asking that, she knew why they were out here. They had come to see - "BILL?!"

They stopped in their tracks. Slowly, her brother looked towards her, eyes wide.

"How…?" asked her brother in disbelief.

"You weren't going to tell me you went to see Bill?" she shouted feeling more angry than she had ever felt. Her brother looked away. She could have punched him, if he hadn't been holding her up. "You weren't! How could you not tell me!"

"I didn't want to - " began her brother.

"Worry me? Is that what you're going to say? You didn't want to worry me?" she shouted. Anger was the wrong word for it this was something more, betrayal and hurt crashing over her like a tidal wave. It threatened to drown her. She couldn't breathe, couldn't feel.

"Dipper!" she gasped. She felt her body go rigid. Dipper's eyes, if possible, got wider.

"Mabel?" asked Dipper.

"She… she isn't gone... she's still here," she whispered. Mabel felt her free arm cover her body, like she was giving herself a hug.

"She's still here?" asked Dipper, his voice, his body, shaking. "How can she still be here?" She shook her head.

"I don't know," she whispered. "Are you alright?"

"Of course I - " began Dipper, but she gave him a look and he went silent.

"Mabel, are you alright?" she asked herself. ' _Alright'_ was maybe too strong a word for it. She guessed she was as fine as she could be, all things considered. She nodded and their head nodded. "Okay, that was really weird."

"You're telling me," whispered Dipper, unable to look away from her. From them?

She closed their eyes and felt herself searching around inside their thoughts looking for her. It was the oddest sensation she had ever felt. Like there were two of her thinking together. Ideas, images, memories whisked by in a blur of incomprehensibility. She could feel another mind inside their mind with her. A second, separate self. Another Mabel.

The other self didn't feel invasive. It felt, right, natural, like it was her looking at her own memories. Until she stumbled on the thing she wasn't supposed to see, the thing that couldn't be forgotten. The memory that always carried her into this world because it had taken away the other life from her.

She gasped, opening their eyes and panting slightly.

"Mabel, what's wrong?" asked Dipper. He lost his grip as their legs went weak. There were tears rolling down their cheeks.

"I know," whimpered Mabel, falling to their knees. "Oh Mabel, I know." Her arms wrapped even tighter around her. Something dripped down their face. She felt their arm move as it touched just below their nose. When she pulled it away their hand was shaking and there was blood on their fingers.

"Mabel?" asked Dipper, concern in his voice as he knelt down. "Mabel? Mabel! MA - "

* * *

" - bel?"

Her eyes snapped open, the dangling strings of lights above her glowing brightly. There was a hand on her shoulder shaking her gently. Her unfocused eyes found a woman beside her bed, smiling softly down at her.

"It's time to get up," whispered her mother. Mabel pulled the covers over her head. "I see you're back to wearing your sweater again. And that you've already managed to undo some of the seams." That got Mabel's attention. She pulled the blanket off to look at it. Sure enough, the rip in the front had reopened.

"Do you want me to mend it again?" Mabel shook her head. "Alright, well, you probably shouldn't be wearing it to sleep.

"Now come on, get out of bed. We have your follow up appointment with Doctor Locke in a few hours and you need to get ready," explained her mom. Mabel frowned. That was the last thing she wanted to do today.

She waited for her mother to leave the room before pulling off her sweater. She examined it. Some of the repairs were still holding but only just. She could see that some of what had been sewn tightly closed just yesterday, had already come undone.

She didn't dare mess with any of them. When Mabel had tried to fix her sweater the stitching came apart instantly. At least her mother's repairs had held for one trip. Was that going to be enough time for her?

She needed to find a more permanent fix. A fix for all of this. A fix, for everything.

* * *

Mabel was not looking forward to returning to the doctor. Really, what kid was ever excited to go to the doctor? It didn't help matters any when they actually entered his office. Mabel could already see whatever he had to say, it wasn't good.

Doctor Locke offered them all a seat, his eyes kept returning to Mabel. She wished he would just spit it out already. He adjusted his glasses.

"Thank you for coming," he said, looking between her parents and now deliberately avoiding eye contact with her. "I've reviewed your daughter's second test results. I even asked a colleague to review them as well. They are unusual to say the least. I'm afraid that the first test was indeed incorrect." He tapped some keys on the computer in front of him and the second screen on his desk lit up. The image looked identical to the one Mabel had seen last time. A gray approximation of her brain with a little white blob in it.

"This is the first MRI we took," explained Doctor Locke. He hit a few more keys and the image changed. Both her parents gasped and Mabel felt herself start to shake. "This is the second set." It was not a small white blob in her brain, it was a large spiral, with tendrils stretching out all across the inside of her head. "The tumor appears to be far more invasive than we first thought. And it's like nothing I've ever seen before. This type of growth is - well, to be honest, it's impossible.

"At this point… there isn't an easy way to say this," he finally looked pointedly at Mabel. "We won't accurately know it's rate of growth without more testing over the next few months. But, at its current size... " he shook his head, no longer able to keep eye contact with her.

"You have terminal brain cancer," said Doctor Locke, finally getting to the thing Mabel knew he had wanted to say the moment she stepped into the room. "With something so invasive, I have no idea why you haven't exhibit symptoms sooner. A growth of this size and complexity would take years or decades. For something so large to have gone unnoticed for so long is - again - impossible." Mabel realized that she was clutching her hands so tightly that her nails were digging into her skin.

"You aren't going to want to hear this," continued Doctor Locke, "but, there's no treatment for something like this. All I can do is approximate how long until -" Doctor Locke kept talking, kept looking sad but Mabel had stopped paying attention. She blocked it all out.

This wasn't real. This was a bad dream. This was the nightmare. She closed her eyes. Any moment she would wake up back in Gravity Falls where she belonged. She would be with her brother. They would go on adventures and everything would be fine. Everything would be great. Everything… would be okay.

When she opened her eyes though, she was still in the doctor's office. Her parents and the doctor were discussing her fate. As she opened her fists, she could see the little traces of red on her nails from where she had cut into her own palms.

* * *

The rest of her day was a blur. Whatever her parents had decided for her it apparently wasn't going to happen right now. Mabel moved through the motions as if it were a dream, not taking any of it in. They talked to several other people before they left. Her parents were given dozen pamphlets and brochures to read but Mabel didn't even glance at them.

Mabel endured the silent car ride and once again escaped to her room the moment she could. Except this time her mother followed her up. Even though Mabel tried to hide away, she ended up in her mom's arms instead. They cried together for a long time.

Thankfully her mother hadn't told her 'it would be alright' or 'we'll get through this together' or some other untrue thing to make her feel better. That was the one thing Mabel was grateful for about her mom, she was always straight with her. She didn't sugarcoat it or lie to her face. Although, Mabel had to admit, she might want a bit of a lie for this.

She couldn't get her head around it. She knew shockingly little about what was going on inside her brain right now, other than it had decided to try and kill her. If it hadn't been so morbid she might have even found it funny. She and Dipper hadn't been destined for anything.

After her mother finally left her alone. Mabel yanked on her shooting star sweater. She didn't have many trips left, regardless of whatever state the garment was in. She might as well make the most of it.

* * *

The fall down into sweater town seemed to take longer than usual, infinitely longer. For one horrible moment she thought she might just bounce back out and be back in her room but at last she landed on a solid floor.

She hardly even had time to see her surroundings before she was tackled by someone. Arms wrapped around her and sobbing cries echoed in her ears as she tumbled back to the floor. Dipper's face came into view above her own, there were tears streaming down his cheeks. Then, much to her surprise, he was kissing her all over her face, her forehead, her cheeks, her nose, the top of her head and than right on the lips for a long, quickly becoming super awkward moment. Finally, he broke away, out of breath and looking into her eyes with so much sadness that she felt it overflowing into her.

"Dipper?" she asked tentatively. He seemed to snap out of whatever trance he had been in. Quickly he pulled back and scrambled off. However, he had grabbed at some point and held it tightly.

"You're here! You came! I didn't know - I didn't think - " stammered Dipper with rushed excitement. "But you did!" He was smiling broader than she had ever seen him smile in their entire lives. Something strange was going on here. Something had happened. Perhaps another fight between them? Or maybe the Mabel of this world had been far away and her arrival had reunited them. No, it was bigger than that.

"Dipper?" she asked, a confused note in her voice. She hoped her expression would convey that she wanted an explanation. Her brother however just shook his head.

"It - It's nothing," stammered Dipper in the way he often did whenever he was lying. "Hey, look, you don't mind if we don't have an adventure this visit, do you? It's okay if we just hang out today? We have the place to ourselves. We could just relax and watch some tv or something?" She frowned, her brother was soooooo lying to her. She poked him in the cheek, trying to pry out the truth. "What, I just want to hang out with my favorite twin, is that too much to ask?"

It was a little odd but certainly not out of the question. She shrugged and smiled.

"Great, come on, I have all twelve seasons of Ducktective for us and ice cream, Rainbow Sherbet, your favorite, it will just be the two of us!" Dipper tugged her up to her feet with relative ease, he certainly had gotten some mussel in the past few years. She wondered how much she had changed too. It had been a while since any of the big stuff had happened but that didn't mean she wasn't still changing. Maybe she had gotten an adorable tattoo! She would have to remember to check later.

Dipper led her down into the living room, keeping hold of her hand the whole way. It had changed quite a bit since the last time she had seen it. The single, much worse for wear, easy chair had been moved off to the side. Apparently, Dipper couldn't bring himself to throw it away despite it's poor state.

A much larger couch had been placed in the center of the room. The moment she could, Mabel pulled free of the brother's hand and leapt onto the couch. She squealed with delight as she bounced on its soft cushions. She wasn't sure why, she just felt... compelled to jump on it. It was like - like she missed it. But that was impossible because she was sure - mostly sure - she had never seen it before. When Dipper didn't immediately join her, she rolled herself over to look at him. He was standing in the doorway, a pained expression on his face as he watched her.

"Dipper?" she asked when he didn't move, this seemed to stir him.

"Oh, uh! Ice cream! Wait - wait right there, I'll - " he tripped over something on the floor and toppled down onto his face. She started to get up but he held up a hand, "I'm fine, I'm fine! All good in the hood, ha-ha. Just wait there, and I'll - ouch - I'll be back in a minute." He trotted off into the kitchen.

Mabel rolled herself up from her side so that she was sitting on the comfy couch. It had been a while since they had just hung out. They had spent a lot of time over the summer in this room together, watching stupid movies. And lots of terrible local TV commercials, man were those awful.

The room was nothing like she remembered it. Okay, almost nothing like. The wallpaper hadn't changed, nor had the very downtrodden carpet. The dinosaur skull was still here too, serving as an end table between couch and the old recliner.

The fish tank was gone, to make more room for sitting. Strangest of all was the TV, or, rather the complete lack of a TV. She hadn't noticed it at first but now that she was looking over the room she couldn't find the TV. Where it should have been was instead a large transparent pane of glass. A rainbow of colors swirled on the glass… no, in front of the glass. She moved her head side-to-side and realized that the image was hovering in air. That was cool, 3D without glasses. Although, it seemed like more than 3D. She didn't know how to describe it.

She hadn't really gotten a good look at technology changes along the way. There had been those few encounters with her phone and Dipper's laptop. But, she had never really had time to poke around in those. Dipper was the tech nerd anyhow, she just wanted her stuff to work, she didn't care _how_ it worked.

Her eyes slid across the rest of the setup. It was a full entertainment center, complete with a couple game consoles underneath (the Playbox 3600 and XStation XXXXXX) there were also some other devices she didn't recognize, mostly small black boxes of varying sizes. She figured they were tv related in some way and her brother would know what to do with them. She patted her knees with her hands, making noises with her mouth to entertain herself while she waited for Dipper to return and the show to begin.

Something vibrated against her leg. She touched her side and found an oblong shape inside her purple skirt. She reached into the pocket and pulled out a small rectangular glass object that was almost completely transparent. In the upper corner it had the Pear logo etched into the glass. It was a cell phone. Her cell phone. It looked so futuristic, but, of course, this was the future for her. The present for Bel, she guessed. Whatever, that stuff made her brain hurt.

The device vibrated again. Instead of the images being flat on the glass they hovered just above it, like some kind of floating image thingy, just like the TV. Mabel turned the glass back and forth, but the image stayed perfectly still in the middle. Although, if she turned it too far to one side, the edge of the image would start to vanish. The phone continued to vibrate. She finally read the message in the center of the screen. It was an alarm message. One that had been set for her arrival. The message read: _'the most important thing in the world. Six letters._ '

She felt confused. She pressed the button for dismiss, a button that was floating in the air. As her thumb passed through it, the alarm stopped. A new projection filled her view. It was an image of her and Dipper one arm hugging each other and smooshing their cheeks together. It couldn't have been that old, this year, maybe last? It was adorable. It wasn't just a flat picture either, she could see the depth to it, their faces and bodies popping out like miniature action figure versions of them. She waved her hand through the image, to see what would happen. Another image overlaid the first, this one was an entry prompt. It said, 'password.'

Mabel hesitated for a moment. This wasn't technically her phone. But, it totally was. And while Dipper sometimes recapped what they had been up to over the last year, his updates were too vague for her tastes. And if Bel was anything like her, she would have filled the camera with pictures. Mabel smiled mischievously. She swooshed her finger through the password field.

A floating keyboard spread out in the air before her. She chewed her lip, trying to think what she might have set as a password. Then, she remembered the alarm message. Had the hint been intended for her? It must be, Bel knew when Mabel visited and the alarm had gone off during that time.

Bel _had_ been talking to her or at least trying to. She had just never had any way to respond to her counterpart. It seemed that this time though, Bel really wanted her to look at her super futuristic phone. Maybe it had the power to call across time and space or something?

She chewed some of her hair. Nah, Gravity Falls was weird but not _that_ weird. Besides, even if she could call her future-past-self, it wasn't like she could have a meaningful conversation. Bel probably had just left a message for her or something, one she wanted Mabel to hear.

Yes. This was for her, this was a password hint. Bel wanted Mabel to see what was on her phone. The most important thing in the world, six letters long. What could it be? The answer came immediately to her. It was so obvious. She typed into the floating keyboard.

W-A-D-D-L-E-S. Mabel counted, then counted again. No, that couldn't be it. That was too many letters. Mabel frowned. And… and it probably wasn't Waddles. She remembered that in this world Waddles had passed away years ago. Okay, not Waddles. What was the next most important thing?

She deleted the entry but before she was halfway through she already had her answer. Of course, the most important thing in the world. How could she be so thick!

K-I-T-T-I-E. She thought it was odd she wouldn't have used kitties but that too was seven letters. She hit enter. The hologram shook slightly and buzzed softly. A new message appeared. " _Incorrect answer_ ," read the floating message box, " _two attempts remaining before twenty-four hour lockout_."

Okay, she was going to have to be WAY better with her guesses. Puppies seemed like the next best guess but, somehow, that felt wrong too. She liked puppies but kitties were wayyyy more adorable. It was unlikely her answer would be puppies. In any case - she counted it out on her fingers - that was still too many letters. It was a good thing the hint had included a letter count, there were too many awesome seven letter things!

The most important thing in the world huh? Six letters? She bit her lip.

"Mabel!" came Dipper's voice from the kitchen nearly making her drop the phone. "Do you also want a Pitt with your ice cream?" There was a long moment of silence. "Right, sorry, say my name if you want a Pitt."

"Dipper!" she shouted back, hoping that might buy her a bit more time before his return.

"Right, got it, almost ready! We only have New Pitt Plus, I hope that's okay."

She turned her attention back to the phone, now ready to give her answer. The most important thing in the world, well, that was easy. She almost laughed out loud. It seemed that fate had picked this for her, she and her other self must have been way more alike than she could have imagined. Her thumb flew over the holographic keypad.

F-A-M-I-L-Y. She hit enter without hesitation. The hologram shook again and the warning message reappeared. " _Incorrect answer! One attempt remaining before twenty-four hour lockout!_ " That had to be it! She hadn't spelled it wrong! What was more important to her than family?

"Alright!" came Dipper's voice. Mabel shoved the phone haphazardly into her pocket a split second before Dipper appeared at the doorway. He had two large bowls of ice cream in his hands and two cans of Pitt tucked into his elbows. He looked like he was barely managing to carry it all. Mabel hopped up to help and nearly crashed into him instead. Balanced regained, she took one of the bowls off his hands then snagging her Pitt out from the crook of his arm. Dipper set down his own bowl and drink on the end table, the non dinosaur skull one.

"Okay, shall we start with season one?" he asked, pulling up the collector's edition of season one of Ducktective ( _Remastered in 8K with MRA and Deep Color!_ The packaging announced.) "Or the greatest hits, including _Twin Bills, Duck and Truck, Flap by Me, and The Mallard that Laid the Ruby_." Mabel pointed to the greatest hits, with a big smile on her face. Those were some of her favorite episodes.

Dipper fiddled with putting something into one of the smallish devices. Once it had clicked into place, the TV's swirling colors coalesced into the characters of the show. Much like the phone had done, it wasn't a flat image coming out of the TV either. It was like a stage play projected out in front of them. If Mabel moved her head she could actually look around some of the scene. This was trippy. Dipper took his spot on the left side of the couch, oddly far away from her. He picked up his ice cream bowl and settled in. He glanced at his sister.

"Oh! Right, you haven't seen holographic projection yet. It's like three or four years old now? This episode wasn't shot in HRV, so the TV is converting it on the fly for us, you can see the edges that aren't quite right where it is adjusting for extra image depth," explained Dipper pointing at the blurry outline around one of the characters. She just smiled at him. "You... don't have any idea what I'm talking about, do you?" She shook her head then leaned over and booped him on the nose with a 'boop' sound to go with it. He smiled weakly at her. "I can set it to flat picture if you want?" She shook her head, this was pretty neat.

Despite being projected out in front of her like a little play performed by cute ducks in hats, Mabel found herself slipping into the show like old times. The format didn't matter, the content was just as good in any medium. Except 3D, that was just dumb. She laughed and Dipper did the same right along with her. It was like nothing had changed. Like everything was just how it should have been. She and her brother were both fine, both thirteen, sitting in their living room watching stupid shows together. This was perfect.

She scooted closer to Dipper as the episodes went on. She was finally close enough to steal some of his ice cream (she had long finished hers). Eventually, she curled up beside him, resting her head on his lap as they watched. She missed this, so much.

"I've missed you, starlight," Dipper whispered, his arm resting on top of her shoulder. She almost missed the comment. He had never called her that before. Usually it was her that came up with cute names for him. Huh, she liked it. A little odd but cute.

She started to cry. It wasn't the episode that was sad it was... It was everything else.

"Mabel, are you alright?" asked Dipper. He pulled his arm back as if he had somehow cause this. She wiped at her eyes but the tears kept coming. She sat up, pulling out of her brother's reach. Before he could say anything else she rushed out of the room.

The bathroom was the first place she found, so she hurried inside, closing the door behind her and sitting down on the toilet lid. She sat there crying into her hands for a while until the tears finally stopped on their own. She used some of the nearby toilet paper to wipe her face. Why was she crying, it was so stupid.

Wasn't this what she wanted? Just a normal, regular day, with her brother? Wasn't that what she had gotten? So why the heck was she crying for?

She hadn't been thinking about anything, she had just been enjoying the show. They weren't rushing off into danger or on some epic quest. Just, sitting there. Just, near him. Then her emotions had overwhelmed her, bubbling out of nowhere.

Her phone buzzed again and she fished it out of her pocket. It was a second alarm, repeating the message. ' _the most important thing in the world. Six letters._ ' She dismissed the alarm again. Once more the hologram of her and Dipper returned, she moved her hand through it. The password box reappeared. The most important thing in the world. She took a deep breath and let out a long sigh. This had to be it.

D-I-P-P-E-R. She hit enter and the phone unlocked. However, the screen she was treated to next was not what she had been expecting. It was their room, up in the attic. She didn't understand. There were no icons, no buttons, no way to actually do anything on the phone.

But there were objects that stuck out to her. Like, on her bed there was a scrapbook, her scrapbook, but it didn't look like it was part of the image. There were other things that seemed like they didn't quite fit either, such as a Postaroid camera on the floor, a rotary telephone on the desk and folded up map pinned to the wall. There were lots of other little objects all scattered around the room as well.

She tapped the scrapbook and, to her surprise, it began to move. It enlarged and opened, much like she would expect a real book to do, filling all of her view. The image was actually larger than the screen of her phone. About three times the size. Apparently, the holographic thingie didn't just make images float above the glass. It was like she was holding her scrapbook in her hands. Except that she could wave her hand through the image, it wasn't solid at all.

It even looked like a scrapbook on the inside, not an image gallery or something. Dozens of taped-in pictures were spread out across its pages just like a real scrapbook. They even had little captions. The text appeared to be handwritten in glitter marker rather than typed in. There were also stickers and notes and little hand drawings scattered over the page. It contained dozens of entries and Mabel realized as she read the labels and saw the several stacked thumbnails, that they had to be collections of images.

Her eyes traveled along the top row looking at the glitter labels and stacked pictures. _Walks to School, Cute Kitties_ (she almost tapped into that one), _Cute Puppies, Funny Trees, Things I Stuck My Foot In, Things I Stuck Up My Nose, Sandwich Creations, Waddles, Waddles in Costumes, Waddles_ \- (these continued on for several dozen entries), _Abby, Candy, More Candy, MOAR CANDY, Sex Stuff, Fluffy Clouds, Dipper, Homework, Other M_ -

Mabel stopped reading, her eyes nearly bulging out of her head as she scanned back across the titles. She read it twice, feeling her stomach flutter uncomfortably each time. Right there, between _MOAR CANDY_ (if the thumbnails were to be believed it was her binging on candy) and _Fluffy Clouds_ (pictures of clouds) was... _Sex Stuff_. And she was pretty sure that's what it was too, if the thumbnails were any indication. It was her sex stuff. Her having sex. That she had recorded. On her phone.

She just stared at it unable to see anything else. That. That was not what she had been expecting to find. Not at all. How could Bel do this? How could she have this?

It was then that Mabel remembered that the Bel of this world was much older than her. Mabel didn't know how much older. Her eyes flicked up to the top of the phone and she found her answer, June 26, 2026, she was twenty six years old. No, Bel was twenty six.

She couldn't really imagine herself doing much more than holding hands or innocent kisses right now, but, thirteen years into her future, that was double the time she had been alive. Mabel bit her lip. She shouldn't. She really, really, really, really shouldn't! Her thumb hovered over the folder. She tapped it.

The page began to unfold from the image, like it was a popout book or something. The thumbnails spread apart becoming a new page that covered the previous one. Her hand brushed the first image and it too expanded out over the page, filling the book edge to edge. Then it began to play.

Much to her relief, it actually wasn't as bad as she had thought. This video was flat, although it was still holographically projected above the surface of the phone. It was selfshot, by Bel, looking a fair bit younger than twenty six. She wasn't sure how old though. Her aging had happened so fast over her visits that Mabel couldn't really tell her own age very well. She also didn't have any of those memories, so that made figuring out when this had happened harder... Oh, there was a date at the bottom. June 17th, 2016. Okay, she was sixteen in this video. She frowned. June 17th, wouldn't that have been the day after she had been there that year?

Bel was holding out her phone at arm's length. She was sitting on the edge of a very small bed, a small bed Mabel recognized - no, that couldn't be her brother's bed up in the attic. Yes, it was, her eyes confirmed it from the posters on the wall. Worse, there was also someone in the bed behind her, just out of frame. A person with short curly brown hair, that made the pit drop out of her stomach. That… that wasn't… The person sleeping in the back of the frame couldn't be... Bel had the sheets pulled over her chest, she was obviously naked underneath. At least she wasn't flashing the camera.

"Hey there, other me!" said the girl in the video, Mabel felt her eyebrows raise ever so slightly. This... this video was for her? Bel had recorded this for her to watch? She felt confused. "I thought I would record our first time, well, I mean, an hour after our first time," she leaned in closer to the camera, "I was kind of too caught up in things to record our first time, sort of..." she leaned back out, "but yep, I've popped my cherry, been deflowered, become a woman, all that jazz!" Bel leaned backwards, taking the camera with her as she went so that the face of the boy sleeping next to her was clearly visible.

Mabel almost dropped the phone as his face came into view. She covered her mouth muffling out the silent scream, "Dipper?!"

Bel smiled, her eyes glittering with joy, "that's right, I HAD SEX WITH MY TWIN BROTHER! DIPPER PINES!" Bel shouted. Dipper was suddenly stirred awake, looking completely confused, frightened and shocked.

"Ah! Mabel! What are you doing! Why would you record this!" Dipper cried trying to reach out for her cellphone. There was a brief struggled in which the camera was dropped onto the bed, then there was giggling from Bel and half hearted complaining from Dipper. The camera pointed up towards the ceiling, catching just the edge of Bel's arm and the pants and moans of pleasure from the two.

Mabel hit stop on the video with a trembling hand. She felt... sick. She felt appalled, no horrified, by what she had just seen. No. She didn't just feel sick… she, she -

The phone clattered out of her hand as she quickly spun around, lifted the toilet seat and vomited up the ice cream and soda she had just eaten. She supported herself with both hands, resting on either side of the toilet as she gasped from the discomfort.

Her brother. Her Dipper. He. He... Her brain went blank. She couldn't even think it. Her stomach lurched again and gave up the rest of the food she had eaten.

A soft knock at the door made her nearly jump out of her skin. "Mabel, are you alright in there?" her brother asked. She looked at the door, a pounding rage in her head. _Alright?! Was she_ _ **ALRIGHT**_ _?!_ Her eyes moved down to the phone she had let drop to the floor. It had landed face up and the image projected from it still showed the ceiling.

She felt her face flash hot red with anger. She snatched up the phone and marched to the door before flinging it open. Dipper looked shocked to see her, at a complete loss for words. She held up the phone and his face went pale white.

"You have her phone..." he whispered. "How do you have her phone? That's impossible!" Mabel felt her eyes nearly pop out of her head. That was what he had to say to her? She pushed past him. "Mabel, wait, I can explain!" he shouted chasing after her.

But she was not up for waiting or listening. Her feet carried her up the stairs into the shared bedroom. She slammed the door behind her and locked it. Dipper tried the knob, it jiggled frantically but did not open. He pounded on the door. "Mabel, I'm sorry! I wanted to tell you, we wanted to tell you, but, I was afraid! I'm sorry! Mabel! I'm sorry!"

She dove into her bed and pulled a pillow over her head, phone still in hand as she cried until she passed out.

* * *

 _Notes From the Author:_

In the past I've put ANs on every chapter of the stories I write here. I have no idea if people like them or read them but for this story I decided to go without them, to let the story just be. However, I've gotten some readers voicing their concern in the reviews over some (one aspect) of this story's content, so I thought I would say a few quick words here.

First, I want to make it perfectly clear that this story is not a lemon, there are no graphic sex acts in it. Second, this is not a shipping story. I don't write stories to 'hook-up' characters. I write to tell (hopefully) interesting, meaningful and engaging tales that people want to read.

This chapter, this whole story, is meant to be shocking and sad. As a reader, I am hoping that after this chapter you feel very much the same as Mabel does, betrayed and horrified (because that was my intent).

But, I mean, it's up to you to read what you want to read. If after this chapter you think this story is no longer for you, well, that's too bad. All I can say is you are really, really going to miss out if you stop now.


	11. Chapter 11 - The Phone

Sweater Town

Chapter 11 – The Phone

By Starwin

* * *

Mabel awoke with a cry of distress. It was dark all around her, except for something glowing in her hand. She lifted it up to find the floating image of her and Dipper hugging. She was still in Gravity Falls. She hadn't escaped like she always did every other time she had fallen asleep. She still had this terrible phone, with its horrible images! All she wanted to do was throw it across the room, to get away from it, to never see the thing again!

But something made her pause. Her surroundings were dark, yet, familiar. She held up the glowing phone and its light played over her room. Her room. She scrambled across her bed to the nightstand and clicked on the lamp. It was her room, in California. She was home. She looked down at her body. She was back to her thirteen-year-old self. Still wearing her shooting star sweater. Although, something felt off, like she was wrapped in too much clothing but she couldn't explain the feeling.

She lifted her hand and saw the glowing glass phone still clutched in her palm. _No way. NO WAY!_ She had never managed to bring anything back from sweater town before. How could she possibly have brought this thing with her! The temptation to throw it away and let it shatter came over her again. She lifted it above her head but slowly lowered it back down then set it as far away from her as she could. At first, on the other side of her mattress then, still feeling uncomfortable, she moved it onto the floor just below.

However, that still wasn't far enough away. She got out of bed, intent on moving the phone to the other side of her room. As she stepped down, her blankets tangled around her legs and she toppled over with a yelp of surprise.

She rolled over with a moan more of frustration than pain and went to untangle the blankets from her legs. Except, it wasn't a blanket wrapped around her legs because no matter how she tugged it the thing wouldn't come free.

It took her a long moment to realize what was wrapped around her lower half. It was a purple skirt. Bel's skirt. It was far too large for her which was why she had tripped over it as it had fallen down around her legs.

She wiggled out of it and was even more surprised to find rainbow colored underwear underneath. Also too big for her, also not hers. They had been pulled up over her nightshirt so that the shirt was oddly threaded through the leg holes. She tugged the strange undergarment off as well. It was something she would wear but did not own.

That wasn't all either. After she removed her shooting star sweater and tossed it aside, she found another sweater underneath and an undershirt and a rainbow sports bra, matching the underwear. All of them too big for her, and all of them ontop of her other clothing. All of them not her's.

Mabel continued to undress until she was back in just her nightshirt and (she double checked) her own underwear. The pile of too big clothing lay on the floor beside the future phone. The phone.

She had almost forgotten about it in her struggle with weird clothes. Mabel gathered up the whole lot and carried it to the far side of the room;. She dropped it in a heap before turning back towards her bed. She intended to leave the… the stuff, as far away from her as she could.

However, she hadn't taken even two steps back when she stepped on something else. Her shooting star sweater. She had tossed it away in her haste to get out of the strange clothes. But here it was, lying on the floor, waiting for her to pick it up and return to sweater town. Her eyes flared, anger raged inside her.

Sweater town had betrayed her. It had given her a messed up horrible world. Not a safe space to escape into but a nightmare of the most unthinkable kind. She snatched the sweater off the floor and stalked back to the pile of clothes. The other side of her room was not far enough away.

She gathered up the garments and the phone before she wrapped everything up in the shooting star sweater. She was going to throw this whole lot away. All of it. Right now. She was done with sweater town, she was never, ever, going back to that horrible place with that thing she had thought was her brother.

Not even stopping to consider her actions, Mabel marched out of her room. The whole house was dark but she knew her way. She quietly hurried downstairs carrying the dreaded sweater and the horrible phone with its sick images out to the trash behind the house.

She stopped before the large black roller bin, lifted the lid and hung the sweater and the contents wrapped inside it over the dark abyss. This was it, she was done, she was ready to return to reality. No more of this fantasy, no more of this sick, messed up, place. All she had to do was drop it.

Her fist wouldn't open.

 _Just drop it._ _This is only your favorite sweater that reminds you of the brother you lost. It's only the magic portal that lets you see him even though he's gone. It's only the single most important thing you have in life right now. Just drop it. And that phone inside, it's only a window into the twenty years of your other self._

Mabel pulled the sweater and its contents back from the lip of the trash and hugged them to her chest. Her heart was pounding so hard it threatened to explode. She suddenly snapped out of her automated panic to reject everything she had just seen. A shiver ran down her spine. She was outside, in the middle of the night, in little more than an overlarge shirt. She went back inside and returned to her room.

She sat on her bed, carefully unfolding the sweater as if it was a bazillion years old. Sitting inside like some unwanted Christmas gift was the glass phone atop a pile of clothes. She had brought things back with her. Things she hadn't intended to bring but had brought none the less.

A strange thought buzzed around in her head. Something she couldn't quite grasp in her current state but that her brain had made a connection to. She had brought things back from sweater town, a fictional world she had just imagined was real.

Her eyes returned to the glass phone and carefully, with shaking hands, she lifted it from the clothing and tapped the screen. It glowed to life once more and the password field returned. She typed in her brother's name and the phone unlocked.

She was returned to where she had left off, at the video of... of...

Mabel hit the back button in the corner and the video shrunk to its original smaller size. It was only then that Mabel read the sparkling glitter caption below it which read ' _First Time_.' She tried her best not to linger on the other thumbnails or their captions below but her eyes glanced for her. Dozens of videos had either her or Dipper's face in them... and not much clothing between them.

She smashed the back button again, trying to shake the images from her head. She wasn't ready to watch any of any of that stuff. Not now. Not ever.

The videos folded back into each other, shrinking and packing away. After a short moment they were just a single stack of small images in a page filled with images. She was back in the main gallery.

She scanned the other labels, hoping there was something else here to explain all this. To her surprise, there was. Only a few folders further along she found, ' _Other Mabel_ ' in the glitter list. It was the name Dipper often called her. She frowned that he had never found a better name for her. She tapped the folder and it expanded outwards. The very first video had a sparkling label of ' _Play me first_ ,' the video next to it said, _'Play me second_.' All the rest of the videos just had dates under them. Mabel tapped the first video.

A holographic image of her twenty-ish year old self spread across the page. Bel was up in the attic of the mystery shack. Mabel pressed play and Bel began to talk to her.

"May, if you're watching this video than it means I'm dead," said Bel seriously. Mabel felt her heart stop but realized that the Bel in this video was far too young, there was no way she - The girl's face split into a huge grin. "HA! I'm joking! I'm joking! I made this in case you ever look at our phone. Dipper says you haven't and I guess you can't really leave me a message... but I, well, I kinda left you a lot of messages.

"Really, I totally thought you would look sooner, I mean, you've been me for like, what, a million years now? And you haven't looked at my phone once! Whaaattt? I wish I could go that long without - " there was a buzz in the video and Bel reached out to the camera, which Mabel realized was the phone, and tapped something on it. "Oh man! Oh, sorry, yeah, text, see! I can't even have a break for a minute!

"Anyhow, I just wanted to say hi, like usual, and..." here she blushed slightly, "geez, you think this would be easy by now, but, okay, here it goes. Look. If you found my phone I bet this wasn't the first video you watched. In fact, if I know me, and I do, because you're me, I think, maybe..." she shook her head, "no, that's the point, you aren't really me, not really. Okay, boy, here it goes. If you watched something else first, you need to watch the next video, seriously. I'll see you there! Oh! And I almost forgot!" She leaned even closer to the camera whispering to it.

"I think it's time we had a talk, you and me, for reals. I know Dipper isn't going to tell you, that's just how he is, so," her hand moved to the phone again and tapped something that Mabel couldn't see. "I'll keep setting an alarm, for this day, one year from now, when you're here, and you're me, I hope you'll look at this message and finally hear me. Okay! Bye! See you soon!" Bel reached out and touched the stop button and the video froze.

Mabel frowned at the phone. Several things had caught in her brain. First, Bel had left her a lot of videos and she had never seen one of them. Second, and she couldn't help but smile, Bel had called her May. Not 'Other Mabel' or something dumb like that. Maybe it had just been a nickname, or maybe, her other self had come up with a similar but different name for her.

Mabel backed out, her finger hovering over the video labeled ' _Play me second_ ,' after a moment's hesitation, she tapped it. This video was projected holographically, but it was flat, indicating it must have been taken on an older device. Bel was much younger in this video. Mabel frowned at herself in the video. This Mabel was the same age as when that other video that had caused her to flee from sweater town..

"Hey, me," said Bel nervously. "Okay, boy. Here we go. This is like my tenth take of trying to do this. I promised myself I would, because, we deserve to hear it from us, okay?" She sat quietly for a long moment, hands fidgeting in her lap. She shook her head. "Alright, quick, like a bandaid! IMINLOVEWITHMYBROTHER!" she said very, very fast, closing her eyes as she said it and shaking her head, her face completely red. "I'm in love with Dipper," she said more clearly, relaxing slightly. "We love each other." Mabel felt that uncomfortable feeling return inside her. Bel looked away.

"I don't know how else to tell you, May. I don't have any idea what you're going to think," said Bel. "I've never told anyone else, how could I? But I think you deserve to know." Mabel felt sick, like she was going to throw up again. Her eyes darted to her door wondering if she could make it to the bathroom in time if the urge overtook her. "Look, I know you might be feeling a little weird right now, totally weird right now. I was confused too. I mean, I've always loved him. And I thought it was just like a brother but, it's more..." She trailed off into silence. "Look, I'm not doing a good job here. But I don't have to.

"When Dipper first told me about you I didn't really believe him. I just kinda made these because they were fun. But as time went on there was more I couldn't explain. I had no choice but to believe him. So, I knew what I had to do, I had to record my life for you! It's all here! All my vlogs for you! Everything, my feelings, my experiences, my good days and bad! Just, please, whatever you do, don't hate Dipper. Okay, bye other me… bye May." Bel reached out and the video froze on her face.

Mabel sat there looking at the floating image. She was at a complete loss for words, not that she could speak any words. She didn't know what what to do next. She backed out of the video, returning to the folder above. It was packed with videos. She scanned the thumbnails looking for any questionable content but they all just seemed to be videos of her, fully clothed - although sometimes in pajamas.

The next video in the list wasn't titled, it just had a date, June 14th, 2013. That was the day after her first visit to sweater town. Mabel tapped it.

"Okay, wow, I just had the strangest conversation with my brospheth," said Bel. She looked almost exactly like Mabel did now. "Apparently, yesterday all I could say was his name. I don't really remember most of that, yesterday is kinda a blur, I might have been overdosed on sugar. Anyhow, my crazy brother has some strange theories about it, he thinks I might have been cursed or something? Who knows. He's cray-cray!" the video ended.

Mabel was about to hit back again but spotted what looked like a curved arrow at the side of the screen. At first she thought it was a replay button but noticed that it had appeared on both sides of the screen. She tapped at it and nothing happened. She swiped at it and the whole video moved and bent like the page in a book being turned. She was in the next video and it began to play automatically. Well, that was handy.

There was a new video every few days, usually short, just little updates about her life. Some of the videos talked about adventures she had with her brother over the next summer. This visit didn't seem to end with a demon trying to destroy them but the weirdness and fun continued nonetheless.

There was a video about living shoes that tried to make Dipper run forever (Bel had managed to tie the laces together and stop them). Another video about her summer crush, William, who Bel had been totally convinced was a vampire. Unfortunately he just turned out to be super emo and also a smoker, ick. Still another about their Great Uncle Ford who kept asking her odd questions and judging her responses.

"I don't know," said Bel to the camera she was holding in her hand. "Maybe he thinks I'm someone else or something? Summer is almost over and so far Dipper says I've been acting just like my silly self all summer long as near as he can tell. Of course, there was that one day that no one except us remembers, but, again, we both remember it. Dipper doesn't think it's related." Mabel swiped into the next video.

This video was a bunch of moments from their 14th birthday. Cake and ice cream and friends and presents. Bel kept going from person to person and talking super fast. Finally with a flash of glitter that she tossed in front of the camera the video came to an end.

"We're back in California after another long bus ride," continued Bel in the next video. They were on a bus, the landscape out the back window racing past. "I'm kinda sad that summer's over but we have a new school to look forward to! I'm so excited! Dipper's a little nervous - "

"I'm not nervous! Who told you I'm nervous? Why are you recording this?" asked Dipper from the seat next to her.

"But I told him it'll be fine," said Bel casually. "How bad can High School really be?" Mabel clicked the next one.

"Dipper is freaking out right now," explained Bel. This video was dated September 9th, 2013. "It's our first day of High School and he can't find his pre-High School checklist!"

"Mabel! This is serious!" cried Dipper in the background. "That list had all my classes on it and a map of the campus, with the fastest route to each class! Without it I'll be late to every class! It also has my locker location and combination and what book I need when and - "

"Don't worry Dipster! We have all the same classes, you can just follow me around and share my books! It'll be fine!" called Bel, still filming herself.

"Fine?! What part of lost checklist is fine?" cried Dipper sounding a little hysterical. Bel set her phone down so that it could still see her and Dipper in frame, than went over and hugged him. "Mabel we don't have time! I have to find - " She put a finger over his lips and shushed him. "Mmmmabel!

"Dipper, we survived the end of the world, this is just High School! How hard can it be! Besides, we'll face it together! Now come on!" cried Bel and she pulled him out the front door, leaving her phone behind and not shutting off the video. Mabel continued to watch the empty room for a minute or two, than used the bar at the bottom to scroll forward. Apparently, Bel had just left her phone on all day long. At last, Dipper and Bel reappeared in frame.

"UGH! MABEL!" moaned Dipper, stomping past, "THAT WAS HORRIBLE! THAT WAS THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE!" Bel entered in frame behind him. She stopped and looked at her phone with surprise and joy then snatched off its resting place.

"Worse than when Bill tried to destroy the world?" asked Bel as she hurried after her brother, the camera bobbing up and down as she ran.

"Yes!" came her brother's voice from some place out of sight ahead.

"Worse than that time Bill climbed inside your body and controlled you like a sock puppet?" asked Bel, finally catching up and leaning over the side of the couch to record her brother hiding his face under a pillow.

"YES!" cried Dipper's muffled voice.

"Worse than - " Bel started to ask again.

"YES! Worst day of my life, Mabel!" cried Dipper, finally pulling the pillow away. He looked quizzically at her, "How long has that been - " the video abruptly ended.

Mabel watched each video, continuing on through a life she had yet to live. A life she could never live. A life that belonged to someone just like her. The videos were on all different kinds of topics. Bel didn't record every day but she did record often. Most of them were fairly short too, just brief minute or so updates on her life.

Some videos were long though. The ones with Bel crying after a breakup, of which there were more than Mabel had expected to find, were the longest. To her surprise, Dipper even appeared in some of the videos too. His updates were more awkward, like he couldn't believe he was talking to a phone. Still, it was good to see his face and hear his voice.

"Okay, so…" said Bel in one of the next videos, her face very red. She suddenly lifted up her shirt to show off her small budding breasts to the camera. Just as quickly she pulled it back down. "Yeah, so, I said I was gonna share everything and these -" she lifted her hands up to indicate her chest "- these things, have really started growing. Mom took me to by some training bras yesterday," Bel shivered. "I never thought shopping for clothes could be so unpleasant. I said I would do the next set on my own. Anyhow…" she held her hands up to her chest again, seemingly at loss for words. "Thanks body."

Mabel watched several more videos about how school sucked and how her own body kept changing and turning against her, with bits of flesh flashed every now and then.

"And I think I got this rash from gym class!" Bel was saying in one of the videos, showing off a nasty red and bumpy rash just above her butt. "Now I've got to rub on this smelly cream to make it go away. Gymnastics is still pretty fun though, even if I'm not super good at it. I would never tell anyone else that by the way."

School ended and Bel left an excited video about heading back to Gravity Falls again this year. There was also a video of her arriving and bouncing on her camp bed. The next video however was the day after Mabel had visited that year.

"Apparently, we had some kind of welcome back party yesterday," said Bel. "It's all fuzzy, like I dreamed it but I don't remember it. Ford asked me a bunch of questions again today. Things only I would know. He wouldn't tell me what it was about.

"I also feel kinda weird," continued Bel with a frown. "It is way harder to explain this but - but it's like all my feelings for everything got stronger this morning. I'm crying at the slightest sad thing. I'm super happy at the very smallest joyful thing and just seeing Dipper fills me with overwhelming emotion. A sort of crazy delight that he's here." There were tears starting to run down Bel's face. She touched her face. "What the heck! I don't get this! I'm not even on my period!"

Mabel watched as another summer went past. More adventures, more broken hearts (although less than the previous years). Mabel also talked about her UsTube Channel and how she was working to convince her brother to start a channel featuring the both of them. She even had names for them.

"We could call it Adventures With Mabel and Dipper or Quests for Excitement or Mystery Twin Adventure Time!" suggested Bel excitedly.

"We aren't calling it Mystery Twin anything!" called Dipper's voice from off camera. He was clearly in the room with her. Mabel wondered just how many of these hundred or so videos she had watched that he had been present for.

"He likes it," whispered Bel into her camera.

"No, I don't," muttered Dipper half heartedly.

"He just won't admit it. Oh, oh! We should call it Mystery Pines Adventure Twins!"

The video stopped, Mabel played into the next one. Bel looked pretty banged up in this one.

"Alright, so, we just had our first joint adventure together for the channel and that could have gone better," admitted Bel.

"Better!" exclaimed Dipper, the camera turned and she could see Dipper pacing in the background. He did not look a lot better off from his sister. There were several rips in his clothing and he appeared to have a black eye."Mabel, we almost died! That thing almost ate us! He ate my camera!"

"Oh, he'll poop it out in a couple days, don't worry," said Bel.

"Mabel - " Dipper began but the video cut out. When she started the next one it began with Dipper holding his camera, as far away and with as few fingers as he could manage. "We got the camera back." Then Bel began to giggle uncontrollably and the video cut out.

Mabel watched the rest of summer flash by. Videos were a bit more scares this year. Not for lack of excitement. Bel was beaming almost every time she was on, talking at an unintelligible speed, to the untrained Mabel ear. She rambled on about all the cool stuff she was getting up to. However, there were no videos about said stuff, until Mabel realized that there were, just not in vlog form. It was all the videos they had been uploading to UsTube.

Taking a quick break, Mabel tried opening the browser on the phone to navigate to UsTube. It took some work to find. It turned out to be the laptop sitting in the background on a desk that went to the internet. However, it had no connection. Through her misclicks she had also discovered she had no phone connection and no messaging either. The bars icon she was used to seeing on cellphones was absent too. All she had was the image of the attic in the Mystery Shack and it's weird items instead of icons. Although, she had to admit she liked it.

Of course, even if she had gotten to UsTube, it would have been the UsTube from her time, right? Or would the phone somehow be connected back up to Bel's time? Was it even Bel's time? Just trying to think about it made her head hurt. She went back to the scrapbook and it's videos of her life. Oddly enough, those weren't nearly as confusing.

She had left off at the end of summer and the start of their second year of High School. However she only got a few videos in before she had to stop them again. The sun had come up at some point and sitting as she was, her back to the window, she couldn't see the screen. She scooted around in bed, finding the darkest corner of her room, not an easy task. At last she found a passable spot and resumed her watching. She ignored both her stomachs loud protests for food and her body's need for relief.

"I joined choir and acting and the sewing and the audio/video club," said Bel excitedly. "The last one was Dipper's idea. He said, if we're going to keep making videos we should have some practice with equipment. I'm the only girl in the club, the boys keep trying to talk to me but don't have any idea how. It's kind of adorable. And it annoys Dipper, so that's a plus."

There were more videos about her school year. Bel complaining about the amount of homework and about the boys in choir being all hands with her. The nerds (as she called them) in the A/V Club, once they had got used to her, were just more sweaty nerds like her brother. She had made it clear she wasn't interested in any of them.

Although, it appeared there was a LOT of interest in her. It seemed like every other video was Bel talking about a boy. Some of whom she liked and some of whom were complete jerks. There were even a couple videos of her crying over some of them. One video was of her swearing off boys forever, followed by another talking about Jonathan. He was captain of the soccer team and a Senior, whom she was going on a date with. Only to be followed by another video of her swearing off boys forever.

Bel was so distraught in her video that she actually broke down crying.

"I just wanted a kiss," she was saying into the camera, tears rolling down her cheeks, "but he just kept getting more and more grabby. He was such a jerk! I told him to stop and when he didn't, I kicked him right in his junk! BLARGH! I hate boys so much! They can only think with - with -" she gestured at her lap. "Why do they all have to be idiots!" She started sobbing, hugging herself in the very pretty and - Mabel noticed now - slightly torn red dress she was wearing.

"Mabel? Is everything alright?" asked Dipper from someplace behind the camera. Bel looked up. "Oh, Mabel! What happened? Are you alright? Are you okay?" Dipper was suddenly in frame, his arms wrapped around her. She was hugging him back, the camera held at an awkward angle but still pointed at them enough to see their faces. There was the smallest smile on Bel's face as she hugged her brother back and nuzzled into his shoulder. Her eyes flicked to the camera still pointed in their direction, Bel's eyes widened slightly as if she was afraid and the video stopped.

There were a few more videos, apparently the thing with the boy named John started to get out of hand. He spread rumors about Bel which she claimed weren't getting to her. At least at first. Soon though she had several more breakdowns while talking to Mabel, confessing just how bad it was getting.

"So, me and Dipper almost got expelled today," said Bel first thing when the next video started. Mabel frowned, there was a bruise under Bel's eye. "John was being a butthat as usual, calling me names and his friends were laughing and I was just ignoring him, you know, as best I could. Then Dipper just walked right up and punched him in the face." She stopped sort of breathlessly. "I mean, I've never seen him stand up to a bully before, ever.

"Dipper of course just has noodle arms," continued Bel wiggling her arm to emulate her brother's lack of muscle. "So, he could only get that first punch in and John had his whole team to back him. If you think this is bad," she pointed to her eye, "Dipper has them like all over his body. Anyhow. I jumped in too and, apparently, so did a bunch of other girlfriends I didn't even know I had! It seems I wasn't the first one of John's 'girls' to have had a really bad date with him," here Bel scowled, "I should have kicked him even harder, that bastard.

"It kinda came out what he had done when we were all dragged into the principal's office," explained Bel, absently twirling her hair. "I… I guess I sort of got lucky I stopped him when I did - " Bel shook her head. "Look, you don't want the details. He was just an awful, evil, person who isn't going to our school anymore. Apparently, neither are some of his buddies.

"And I guess this was kinda the worst fight the school's ever had? One of his buddies did this to me," she pointed at the bruise under eye again, "I made sure he was never going to walk right again. I think I might also have bitten him really badly." She smiled. "Braces for the win?

"Long story short," said Bel, "we still got suspended, so we have a week off and no more Johny-boy making my life terrible. I - I think I really need to be more careful on the dating thing. It used to be just good fun, exciting and stuff. Now, it's all just - just… blargh!

"Anyhow, Dipper suggested we do a hike tomorrow, seeing as we don't have to go to class," said Bel. "Our parents prolly won't let us, they weren't super happy about all this, but, pfft, whatever. See you next time, me." She ended the video.

Mabel made a mental note that if she ever met a soccer player named Jonathan to get done with it and kick him right in the junk off the bat. This was her second year of High School, so, she had that to look forward to?

"I can't believe that Melody and Soos are engaged!" cried Bel. "I just got a text from Melody with pictures and everything!" Bel did something funny with her phone, bouncing it all around. "Darn it, the image is on my phone, I don't know how to show it to you. Anyways, she sent me a picture of the wedding ring! They are getting married over the summer so I can be at their wedding! I'm going to be a bridesmaid! I can't wait for this stupid school year to end!"

There were more entries as the year went on, although, distinctly none about any boys. Some of the videos were talking about how hard her homework was getting and that she didn't get this maths stuff at all.

"GAH! Dipper's explained it to me like a hundred times but I just don't get it!" complained Bel. "I'ma try and guilt him into doing it for me. I usually can. I'm so glad we are still taking so many of the same classes, it makes doing homework sooo much easier. And finals are coming up soon, I'm so not ready!"

Mabel could see it in Bel's face as the end of the school year got ever closer. Panic, frantic babbling, a couple videos with Bel hyped up on MabelJuice to the point where she was nearly shaking uncontrollably. Mabel swiped into the next video.

"Yes! It's over! We're free! FREE!" exclaimed Bel into her camera. The phone obviously sitting on a desk watching her. She was busy shoving things into her purple polka-dot roller bag. "We leave tomorrow for Gravity Falls! I can't wait for another exciting summer!"

The next video was them on the bus heading up and Bel babbling about how excited she was. The next video after that was of her even more excited to see her old attic room, hugging everything in sight. Then, finally, after Mabel's next visit.

"Dipper is pretty sure there's another me taking my place every year," said Bel. This was the year Mabel and Dipper had gone exploring the waterfall cave together. "I'll be honest, I've been making videos for you, my other self, but I didn't really believe Dipper until this year. He showed me a video of you, other me. I watched us explored a cave together!

"I sort of remember it but like a fuzzy dream. He also has video proof of me talking right the camera and saying nothing but his nickname! Worse! He even secretly video taped me sleeping last night! BLARGH! He can be so creepy sometimes! He wanted to look through the video right now, but I said no way buster. Not until I was there to see it too. When he's done I'm gonna make him delete it! This is really getting weird. Dipper is getting really weird!

"BLARGH! I'm getting weird!" admitted Bel. "I feel even worse than the last time you were here. It's like you're leaving your emotions behind or something. Whenever I think about Dipper I just start crying and I don't know why! I hope it isn't like this all summer!

"I don't know if you're real or not, other me," said Bel to her camera. "But this is starting to kinda freak me out. I wish I could talk to you or something and tell you how I feel.

"Also, Dipper keeps insisting we call you Other Mabel, which I think is a dumb name. I want to call you Adorable Mabel and then I could be Cute Mabel. But, I don't think that would work either, because you would also want to be Cute Mabel. I'll have to come up with some better names."

Mabel diligently continued to watch each new video. Getting snippets into Bel's life.

"I just spent like an hour talking to Melody about -" Bel gestured to her chest. "Stuff, you know, like bras and, stuff. I think I am mostly happy with the sport's bra thing, it seems to be working out pretty well." She looked seriously into the camera. "When you're here if you could stop taking them off that would be great, other me."

"Oh hey!" cried Bel in the next video excitedly. "I thought up a better nickname for you, Dipper thought it was stupid but I'm going to use it. From now on, you can be May! See you soon, May!"

This summer seemed to have no romances in store as not a single video talked about any guy she was currently crushing on. In fact, beyond Soos, her Uncles or Dipper, there was no talk of boys at all! The current video that Mabel was watching had Bel talking about how it was stupid that ice cream wasn't an acceptable breakfast, lunch and dinner choice.

In the next video, Bel was dressed in a beautiful white dress, accented with bright pink flowers.

"So, what do you think, May? Awesome right?" asked Bel. "It's my bridesmaid dress for Melody's wedding! I just got it today. The wedding's in a week, I can't wait! They're so happy together! I want to be that happy too, one day."

There was an unusually long vlog from the wedding, several short videos that Bel had stitched together via her phone's editing tool. Mabel smiled as familiar faces popped in and out. Candy, Grenda, Pacifica, Wendy, just to name a few. None of them got many words in edgewise before Bel moved on to the next person in a flurry of excitement.

She even caught a few moments of Dipper, looking very uncomfortable in a tux. And Bel teasing him about it until his face turned red. There was video of cake and of Bel eating cake. There were a bunch of edited together videos of Bel dancing with her friends. Even Pacifica joined her at one point and, much to her surprise, the last person she expected to dance, let alone with her, was Dipper. Bel looked like she was having a great time.

Dipper, at least at first looked like he wanted to be doing absolutely anything else. But as it went on, he seemed to relax and at last looked like he was finally starting to have fun. He even seemed to have built up the courage to go and dance with both Wendy and Pacifica. Mabel smiled fondly.

More adventure videos, still not as many as she would have liked. At least it was something to let her know that she and Dipper were still out exploring together. Still, not a single video about any summer romances. Mabel was starting to worry that one stupid jerk of a guy had mucked up all of Bel's romance life. That is, until a video made her remember who her other self had ended up with.

"So, Dip and Pacifica started going out today," said Bel into her camera, there were tears rolling down her face. She wiped at them. "I'm so happy for them that I'm crying, right? That's why I'm crying?" The video ended abruptly.

The rest of the summer videos seemed to shift from being about Bel to being about Dipper and Pacifica. Some of the videos were clearly taken from hiding spots of her spying on them. None of the commentary that Bel provided seemed to be encouraged excitement for her brother. Instead, there was always a bitter tone in the words, and she often muttered "Dipper's too good for you!" and "he deserves someone better!"

At long last summer ended and Bel's mood seemed to brighten.

"We won't have to see Pacifica for another year!" said Bel brightly to the camera.

"What's wrong with Pacifica?" asked Dipper, clearly overhearing something he wasn't meant to hear. Bel looked up, moving her phone behind her back so that the camera lens was covered. "I thought you two were like BFFs now or something, you're always hanging out with us whenever we go on dates."

"Nothing," said Bel in a way that Mabel clearly knew did not mean 'nothing.'

"Uh-huh, well, you need to get packing we leave in an hour," said Dipper.

The school year seemed to stay pretty normal, with the twins entering their junior year. Bel complained that they had even fewer classes together than last year. She also complained about the colleges she and Dipper were looking at. She kept trying to coax him to find somewhere they could both go. But he was looking at schools specific for his scientific interests. While Dipper never said it in the videos Bel included him in, Bel explained it when she was filming alone. Dipper was considering schools that Pacifica was interested in.

The next video however caught Mabel completely by surprise. It was the middle of December, a week before Christmas break.

"Waddles…" sobbed Bel into her camera. There was an arm around her shoulders. Dipper's arm. The camera tilted awkwardly and Bel buried her face into her brother's chest and sobbed. Dipper took hold of the camera but instead of shutting it off he looked into it and continued.

"He passed away in his sleep last night," continued Dipper as Bel cried into his chest. "Rest in piggy peace, little buddy."

Mabel used her sleeves to wipe the tears out of her eyes. She really would have to cut back on feeding him bad food.

Christmas seemed to lift Bel's spirits once again, although many of her videos following Waddles' passing ended with her crying. Bel showed off the Christmas gifts she had gotten, most excited for the ones from her brother. He had made her a sweater that said _Mystery Pines Adventure Twins_ on it. She had also made him a sweater, of a much better quality, that also said _Mystery Pines Adventure Twins_.

Things seemed to improve a bit after that. There was even talk of an adventure the two would take a few days before school restarted. To Mabel, and Bel's, disappointment the adventure was canceled. Bel had only one thing to say about it all.

"Pacifica," muttered Bel angrily.

As they entered January, there was a marked change in Bel. This was the time leading up to the year when Bel had decided not come with her brother to Gravity Falls. Mabel worked hard to recall the 'dream,' remembering that Bel and Dipper had been fighting about… schools? No, about splitting up for different schools.

She was now learning that wasn't the only thing they were fighting over. Pacifica also seemed to have become a hot button topic for Bel. Dipper was still talking to her almost every day via SeeMyFaceVideo and it was impacting his adventures with his sister. It was also impacting other things that Bel seemed unwilling to admit in her vlogs for Mabel.

Bel was more fidgety, something Mabel recognized as uncomfortable worry. Her words more halted, more guarded. Her eyes kept looking away from the camera as she spoke. Often, the videos ended abruptly as Bel would almost say something, shake her head, then turn the camera off. Only to have the very next video be her apologizing and trying to get the words out. Words she kept dancing around. Mabel knew how she felt being unable to speak her mind.

"I've been avoiding, I know I have," said Bel softly to the camera. It was very dark, only the roughest details were illuminated by the screen of the phone. While it was hard to see, Mabel realized that she and Bel were sitting in the same spot on their bed, the darkest part of their room. One was recording the video, in the middle of the night. The other watching was watching it, in the middle of the day. Both of them years apart from each other.

"I've only been able to think it," whispered Bel. "I've never been able to say it outloud. Because if I said it outloud that means it's real. Not a dream. Not a fantasy. If I say it, it's real." She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and searching for strength.

"But this video isn't for me, it's for you, only for you, May! It's just a thought. I'm not really saying it, and when I started doing this, I promised I would be honest with you. And I haven't been. I've been lying to you. Well, not lying, but not sharing everything. Dang it, how do I say this?" She looked right into the camera, her eyes watery in the glint of the phone. She moved her face even closer to the screen so that only the bottom of her nose and upper lip was visible. Then she whispered.

"I think I'm in love with my brother…" She yanked the screen back and instantly the video stopped. It was frozen in a moment of time, the dark outline of her body curled up in bed. There was terror in her face, her eyes. Everything about the last image made Mabel feel like she had heard something she was never meant to know. Mabel flicked the edge of the screen and the next video began to play.

"I can't believe I just said that," whispered Bel. The very next recording seemed to be on the same night, only minutes later. "I wanted to delete it so bad, to not make it real. To take it back!" she frowned in the dark. "But these aren't for me. They aren't for anyone but you, May. I can't talk to you face-to-face so this is all I have." She looked down. "I want you to know. Because you deserve to know." The video ended.

"I do feel a little better," explained Bel, as Mabel swiped into the next entry. This had much better lighting and was obviously taken during the day. "Don't get me wrong, I still feel all BLARGH about it! I'm all messed up inside. I feel like I'm going insane! I would be going insane if I had no one to talk to about it and I know you can't answer me but you can listen and that's what I need right now!

"I don't know what to do," continued Bel. "I mean, this is all so weird. I've felt this way for a long time, I just didn't realize until this year, until Pacifica. When he looks at me, when he talks to me! Even the briefest touch and my tummy goes all funny. AND BLARGH! HE'S MY BROTHER!" she shouted this last part then hurriedly covered her mouth and waited as if expecting Dipper to suddenly pop into the room. After a few seconds when nothing happened she continued, this time in a whisper, "He's my brother! And I'm in love with him!"

There were many more of videos like that. In one she was pacing back and forth, her expression strained and filled with worry.

"I think it started with you," Bel muttered to herself, then looked at the camera. "Every time you come here my feelings get amplified, like I'm feeling for both of us or something. And there's something going on with how you feel about Dipper. It's not love, not like mine. I mean, it is love, just not love-love. It's like - it's like, I don't know… but it hurts May, it hurts me."

The videos continued, Bel's appearance becoming more disheveled as time went on. It was later in the school year and finals had to be approaching but Mabel knew that wasn't the main reason her other self looked so bad.

Bel continued to question her own sanity, something Mabel was having an easy time empathizing with. In other vlogs she confessed she was being stupid that this was just a phase, just her body and her hormones turning against her or something. Still others videos where she spent minutes fretting and worrying and berating herself.

"I don't know what to do about this!" complained Bel. "I've always been honest with Dipper before and I don't think I can keep this from him. Like, I'm just going to blurt it out one day. I have to tell him how I feel! I have to tell him - " she leaned into the camera " - that I love him."

On to the next video, more debating, and the next video, more panicking and questioning.

"I can't talk about this with anyone but you, May! And you can't even answer me! This is so unfair!" cried Bel into her video. "What am I supposed to do? I've tried not thinking about this. I've tried ignoring it. I've tried burying my feelings and not looking. But you know me! You know us! We can't do that. We don't hide our feelings. This is driving me crazy! And I can't talk to anyone about it!"

"The college argument is getting worse," said Bel as the next video started. "I tore up my acceptance letter right in front of him, I told him it didn't matter where we went as long as we did it together. He was more angry than I think I've ever seen him. He said I couldn't just throw away my future for him! And I told him I could do whatever the fudge I wanted for him. And then - then I almost said it! I almost yelled it in his face that I love him!" Her face fell. "Instead he just stormed away from me and slammed his door in my face."

Mabel reached out to play the next video but her hand was shaking uncontrollably. The screen was slightly blurry and she realized that it wasn't the phone that was out of focus, it was her. She wiped at her eyes, feeling all gunked up inside.

She absolutely did not love her brother the way Bel did. Oh she loved him, he was the most important thing in the world to her. He was her twin, her best friend, her only brother. The other half that made her whole. But she didn't love him romantically. She wasn't at all attracted to him. He was like - like an adorable kitten. Cute and cuddly but not - not sexy.

The thought of being with him in that way did not appeal to her at all. She could hug him all day long, cuddle up with him on the couch or even kiss his stupid face till her lips cracked. But the thought of doing sex stuff with him was just… gross.

Even still, everything Bel was saying, everything she had done, Mabel would have done all of it too. If not for the exact same reasons. Her brother was important to her. Losing him had torn her world apart and tumbled her down into madness.

She tapped on the next video.

"I'm not going to Gravity Falls this year," said Bel, her voice hollow and lifeless. "Dipper… won't…. He won't talk to me anymore. I messed it all up. I made him hate me." There was a long pause here. "I told him. I told him that I loved him. That I wanted to be with him. That's the real reason I want us to go to the same college…" She looked down away from the camera.

"You know what he said to me? Nothing, he just walked away. He couldn't even look at me. He couldn't be near me. We haven't spoken for a couple days now, he can't even stand to be in the same room with his freak of a sister." She sadly looked back up at the camera tears streaming down her burning red cheeks. "I'm not gonna do these anymore." The video cut out.

However, that was apparently not the case. When Mabel swiped there was indeed another video for her.

"WHAT THE HOT FUDGE-LAND IS GOING ON!" cried Bel's panicked face into her phone.

She wasn't holding it this time but rather had propped it up on a table or something. Mabel could see why the girl had opted to set her phone down, her whole body was shaking uncontrollably. The video was also in that awkward portrait mode that Mabel detested so much. Bel reached out with shaking hands, jumping the camera all around as she rotated the phone so that the video went wide screen. It took her a few tries to get the phone to stay upright. Mabel couldn't help but smile. So different but so similar.

"Okay, okay. I am freaking out here! One second, I am sitting at home, getting ready to post that stupid booger video of Dipper I took a while back, cuze I'm so angry with him. And when I blink, here I am, in Gravity Falls, sitting on his bed, with his laptop," she held up Dipper's laptop, there was a picture of Bel on it, chasing Dipper with water balloons, "looking at pictures of myself! And not just one picture of myself but a whole flipping folder of them and videos too!

"And it feels like there's a giant hole ripping me apart, May! Worse than ever! What the heck? Why do you keep doing this to me?" tears were rolling down her face. "It's like a physical pain. It's like Dipper's gone! Like I lost him! That's what it's like every time you come here. I didn't realize it before because I had never really lost him. But now I feel it, you lost Dipper somehow and you keep dumping that on me!"

Mabel saw the door to their room open in the background and Dipper stepped in, freezing in place, his eyes wide.

"Mabel!" shouted Dipper. He hurried into the room and closed the door behind him. "What're you doing with my laptop?" He hurried towards her. Bel set down the laptop so that it was out of frame then darted towards him. The two met right in the middle of the frame standing feet apart and glaring at one another.

"What am I doing with your laptop? What are you doing with pictures of me on your laptop!" shouted Bel angrily, getting right up in his face.

"Wait, what?! You can talk! This is amazing! I have so many questions! Who are you? What are you doing here? How - " Dipper began.

"Strawberry Pancakes!" shouted Bel right into his face. Dipper stopped.

"Wait, Mabel?" he asked. "I mean," he shook his head, "Blueberry Muffins! Mabel is that really you?"

"Yes, you stupid butt!" cried Bel, her fists balled up at her sides. "What the who-ha am I doing here and why do you have hundreds of pictures of me on your laptop?"

"It was her, it was Other Mabel!" exclaimed Dipper. "She was here! Just like she is every year!"

"What? Did she steal mom's car and drive it here or something?" cried Bel.

"No," reaffirmed Dipper. "I mean, she just popped into existence here, she had your phone and everything!"

"Wait, my phone?" asked Bel and there was suddenly panic in her voice. "Did she look at it?" Dipper pulled back slightly. He shook his head and shrugged indicating that he didn't know.

"I don't know, I mean, she answered my call when I tried to call you," said Dipper. Then it was his turn to look angry. "Wait! Wait! You posted that video of me picking my nose! You promised you wouldn't!"

"I never promised that!" shouted Bel right back at him. "YOU LEFT ME IN CALIFORNIA YOU BUTT!"

"You didn't want to - " began Dipper but Bel cut him off.

"Of course I wanted to come with you, stupid!" shouted Bel. "I wanted you to make me come with you. I wanted you to drag me to Oregon with you! You left me behind Dipper! You left me!" She pounded her fist into his chest as she yelled at him.

"Mabel, I - " Dipper tried again. However, whatever he was about to say was completely lost as Bel lunged forward and kissed her brother full on his lips. She pulled on his shirt, holding him there while she poured herself into him. He looked like a deer caught in headlights, his arms held awkwardly out to the sides, unsure what to do or how to respond.

After a long few moment, where Bel tried to kiss him harder and Dipper didn't move at all, she broke away. Tears ran down her face and sobs echoed out to the camera. She dropped to the floor, pulling her arms and legs into her sweater, except she didn't seem to fit anymore. She rocked back and forth.

Dipper continued to stand there, looking completely unsure of what had just happened or what he was supposed to do about it. Then his body began to move again. His eyes found his crying sister curled up on the floor, hidden away in sweater town, crying her eyes out. He knelt down beside her and wrapped her in a hug, stopping her rocking motion. He said something too quiet for the mic to pick up.

Bel poked her head out of sweater town, tears still running down her face. Then Dipper kissed her back, their faces obscured from the view of the camera but no doubt in Mabel's mind as to what was happening.

Mabel's hand moved back over the phone. She… she had seen enough of this. She was done. But as her finger hovered over the glass, the touch controls popped into existence and she saw the time bar. It was the time bar that kept Mabel from hitting stop. She was only in the first tenth of this video. It was over an hour long. Mabel pulled her hand back, her intention to stop watching dissolving away. The controls vanished as well. She watched herself (sort of) and her brother kiss in the middle of the room they both shared.

Things began to escalate. Bel came out of sweater town and Dipper was out of shirt town. In fact, they were quickly getting out of lots of clothing town and were practically naked in the middle of the room. They kept kissing and Bel kept giggling and Mabel kept watching. She wasn't really going to watch this… was she?

Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. She was watching this, like a train wreck she couldn't look away. Dipper laid Bel on the floor. Mabel watched in complete motionless silence at the horror projected before her eyes.

She wanted to stop watching, to look away or turn it off or do anything but look at the two figured on the screen. But she couldn't stop she was drawn to it. She was watching herself do something she had never imagined. All the videos up until this one hadn't clicked for her, until now.

She wasn't Bel.

This shared life they had, her and Bel. Mabel had always just assumed it was her life, that she was doing those things or that she one day would. Her eyes were still locked on the video. One day that would be her, naked on the floor with her brother on top of her.

But that wasn't right. That was never going to be her doing that. Her brother was gone and the only one she had was in sweater town. And he didn't love Mabel, he loved Bel. And she wasn't Bel.

The video ended abruptly with no one seemingly touching the phone. Mabel guessed that it had either run out of battery or space. She was grateful it was over, that she wouldn't have to endure any more of it.

Mabel didn't start the next video immediately. She was all jumbled up inside. The realization that she wasn't really watching herself in the recording helped buffer her a little but not a lot. She still felt confused and weird and gross for having seen it. But hate was the completely wrong term for it. She could never hate herself, her other self. She could never hate Dipper.

Yes, she knew what they were doing was wrong and she didn't want to do it herself. The video hadn't made her any more comfortable with it nor had it stirred long buried feelings of incestuous love within her. She still felt just like she always had about Dipper. She still loved him, as her brother. This video hadn't changed that. Really, nothing would or could ever change how she felt about him.

What the videos had changed though was her perspective on the whole sweater town thing. When she had found that first video, her whole world had shattered apart. It had felt like she had lost the Dipper she had found in sweater town. Like she had lost her brother all over again.

Now though, she was a lot less sure. All that stuff she had seen about her other life she would never live. All that stuff Bel had said about her feelings. There was more to the way Bel felt than Mabel had ever considered. For the first time, she rewound the video back to the start. She didn't play it very far in, just to the part where Bel said:

"And it feels like there's a giant hole ripping me apart, May! Worse than ever! What the heck? Why do you keep doing this to me? It's like a physical pain. It's like Dipper is gone! Like I lost him! That's what it's like every time you come here. I didn't realize it before because I had never really lost him before. But now I feel it, you lost Dipper somehow and you keep dumping that on me!"

Mabel paused the video. She knew. Bel knew that Mabel had lost her Dipper. Worse, Mabel was dumping all those emotions on her other self. She had been for years. Not just the bad emotions but the good ones too. She had filled other Mabel with everything, filled her to the point of overflowing.

Her eyes widened, looking down at the frozen video. She unpaused it and let it play to the point where Bel had kissed Dipper. This was her fault. Bel would never had done this if not for her. She had never stopped to consider the effects her actions were having. This was all her fault...

For the first time in hours, Mabel lowered the transparent future phone. She looked around her room, it was completely dark. At first, Mabel felt confusion, it had been dark when she had woken up, yet, she knew there had been daylight at some point, right? How long had she been looking at this phone?

A quick glance at her alarm clock confirmed it was already well after midnight. A whole day, she had been here a whole day. Mable backed out into the videos section again, a quick flick of her finger revealed she wasn't even half way, that she had hundreds, maybe thousands of video clips to go.

But she didn't need any more videos to tell her what she already knew. She knew what she had to do, where she had to go. It was time to go back to Gravity Falls. Her eyes returned to the sweater. This time, for real.


	12. Chapter 12 - The Bus

Sweater Town

Chapter 12 – The Bus

By Starwin

* * *

It was 3:00 AM. At least that's what her future phone told Mabel. The alarm clock by her bed confirmed the time. Both her parents would be asleep, which was good. Because she was about to do something neither of them would approve of.

This was well beyond her normal threshold for adventure or pushing the boundaries of what she could get away with. There were gray lines she was happy to cross all the time and rules that were certainly meant to be bent. Now, she was about to break those rules completely. Destroy all the trust her parents put in her. But she didn't have any other choice.

Mabel found her dad's wallet sitting on the entry table, right beside his car keys. It wasn't the first time she had rifled through her parents belongings, she had a very loose sense of privacy after all. However, this time, she was looking for one very specific thing. It was in the very first insert. She pulled out the little plastic card and crept back up to her room.

It only took her a few minutes to find the site, enter the numbers off the card, approve the transaction and print the document she needed. Not for the first time Mabel was thankful she had been able to convince her parents to let her get a printer for arts and crafts. And now, she guessed, criminal activity. Grunkle Stan would be proud. Fraud was one of the very first skills he had tried to impart on her and Dipper.

She packed very light. Her brother's journal, his blacklight (obviously), her sweater (of course) and naturally, her grappling hook. Her backpack always had emergency supplies in it, like extra panic candy and coloring books, so she didn't have to worry about that stuff. She also slipped the future phone into the outside pocket of her backpack. It probably wasn't something she wanted to just leave lying around or carry in her hand. And her skirt didn't have any pockets.

She dressed, almost choosing an outfit of all black but that might have been too conspicuous. She did have a long journey ahead of her, and there were bound to be other people along the way. So she picked a normal outfit. She even choose the most subtile sweater she owned, a simple sky blue one with clouds along the bottom.

She made her way back downstairs, printed document in hand, backpack slung over her shoulder. She returned her dad's credit card to its proper place then made a rash decision to take all the cash out of his wallet. She was borrowing it. She didn't plan to use it but better to have now and apologize later, if there was going to be a later for her.

As quietly as she could, she snuck out of the house and over to the garage. She found her bike and maneuvered it out, taking her helmet with her. In a minute more, she was off, riding along the sidewalk in the dead of night, with street lamps lighting her way in a haze of yellow light.

She wasn't that far from her destination but she didn't have a lot of time to get there. She might have made it on foot but why risk it, she only had one chance at this. Mabel peddled harder, thoughts racing through her brain about what she had done and what she was doing. This was crazy. She was crazy.

The building she was headed to came into view ahead of her. The sun still hadn't come up but people were already gathered under the electric lights. She stopped outside of the metal rails that boarded the huge parking lot. She was really going to do this.

She dismounted her bike and pushed it into some nearby bushes then tossed her helmet in after. She hoped it would be okay there but, even if it wasn't, it probably didn't matter.

Walking the last hundred yards or so, she tried to look relaxed. She tried to fit in and not be conspicuous. Although, being a thirteen-year-old-girl, the only child in sight, made her stand out like a sore thumb smashed with a sledge hammer. Maybe she shouldn't have hidden her bike so well, incase this whole plan went belly up and she needed to make a quick escape.

She reached the other people. Some sitting, some standing. A couple looked at her as she approached but no one said anything to her. She didn't have to wait long. Taking the bike had been the right decision because there was no way she would have made it on foot.

The other people began to file forward in front of her. Mabel found her place in line, clutching the paper in her hand. Questions as well as possible answers poured through her head. What if they stopped her? What if they asked why she was alone? What if they -

She was at the front of the line, standing in front of a man glaring at her.

"Ticket," he said when she didn't move. Mabel handed him the paper slip with a slight tremble in her hand. The man looked at it then looked back up at her. "Hey, I remember you. You're the pig girl. Right?" She nodded, frowning a bit at the bad name. The man looked back around her. "No pig this time, huh?" She shook her head. "Alright, welcome aboard."

She let out a sigh, took the ticket he handed back to her and made her way to the very, very back of the bus. She didn't want anyone to sit behind her and look over her shoulder.

There weren't a lot of other passengers. Not surprising for how early this bus was leaving. Also not surprising based on where they were headed. The middle of nowhere. Mabel recalled that on the previous bus ride up with her brother the bus had been nearly empty as well. It had also been just the two of them for most of the ride home, although, people had gotten on and off along the way.

She wouldn't have Dipper along this time to keep her company. No Waddles to cuddle with either. No card games or jokes to tell. It was just going to be stories from her other life. Her hand brushed the future phone still in her backpack. She wanted to wait until the bus was in motion and people were distracted. But there were only six of seven people spread out around the bus and they were all already distracted with something.

Fishing around in her pack, she carefully extracted the glass phone. She hadn't found a charging port on it and it didn't seem to have a battery symbol. It did have a jack that strangely enough still worked with her normal ear buds.

In a few short motions she was back in the phone, the video she had left on still visible and frozen on the screen. She gave it a little flick and the image flipped to the next page and a new video, which started to play.

"Okay, so I just did like a dozen takes trying to explain this thing for you," said Bel to her camera. It looked dark out the window behind her. She ran a hand through her messy hair. "I never thought it would be so hard to talk to myself. Well I was doing it, I started thinking. Worrying, really. Freaking myself out. Adding up the facts and coming to all the wrong answers!" Bel had started to hyperventilate a little.

"I mean, I know we did it, I know Dipper said he loves me," said Bel, more to herself than the camera. "And I mean he did that thing," she motioned downwards but stopped herself. "Sorry. Look, I don't know what happened. This might be hard for you to understand… but, but I've never watched any of the videos I've made for you. Except the wedding one, I admit now that was a mistake but it would have been like 3 hours long… Sorry, I'm dodging the subject again… We'll talk about this later.

"Dipper, that's what this video is about," reaffirmed Bel. "I know how I feel about him now, I do. I've accepted it… And I think he feels the same about me. I don't know. All his actions and words says he does too. I wish I could read his thoughts or something and know for sure. I need to know he wasn't just doing it because I want him to." She looked at the camera. "I have to know."

Mabel flipped to the next video.

"I told him," said Bel. "That I want to know how he really feels. That I want him to be honest with me no matter what. He kissed me." The video ended with Bel blushing very red in the face.

"Right, so, okay, I totally got off track in the last two videos," said Bel in the next entry. "Well, I didn't. I mean, they were both what they needed to be about… but I meant to tell you something. Something I should have told you way sooner.

"These videos, they aren't for me," explained Bel. "I've never watched any of them." Mabel felt confused. Bel had never watched them? But she had made them? "Except for two. The wedding one, but I wasn't even sure you were real at that point and it was a video just as much for me as you. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have. I just didn't know then. The other one was explaining our, uh, my…? Relationship with, you know, the Dipster. I had to be sure we were coherent in one of them.

"But I promise I won't watch anymore of them," said Bel quickly. Mabel didn't understand. Why should she care if the girl recording the videos for her watched any of them? Wasn't that the point of the videos, to be watched?

"Maybe you don't even get it," explained Bel. "Maybe you don't even care. But I do. May, these aren't just videos. These are a record of your life. It's like…" she searched for words for a moment, "it would be like looking inside your thoughts." Mabel wasn't sure she agreed with that but, well, she couldn't argue the issue if she had wanted, for a number of reasons.

"Look, these videos are just for you, and no one else," continued Bel. "I can say anything I want to you in them because they are just for you. There are other, uh, videos…" Bel trailed off her and her face went red. "That are for the both of us. You might have already watched some of them." _OH. Oh eww._ "You don't have to, that's why they're in a separate folder. But, uh, I'm going to record it all. Just incase you do want to know and see all of it.

"Dipper is a bit less happy with that," said Bel with a pout. "He doesn't want any record of our, uh, playtime." Mabel frowned at the word. "Talk to you later, May."

Mabel bumped in her seat and looked up. The bus had started moving. Her eyes flicked around the cabin to check if anyone was watching her and the floating images in her hands. But not a single head had turned in her direction. It also didn't seem like anyone else had gotten on the bus. She was glad to be on the road. It was a long trip ahead of her.

She frowned. What were her parents going to think when they got up in a few hours and came to wake her, only to find her bed empty. She should have left a note, telling them not to panic. Or maybe, she should have made a note saying she had gone to school. No, stupid, she still couldn't write anything meaningful!

Although, now that she thought about it, she had been able to type stuff on her keyboard. She looked down at the phone. And type in passwords! Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold the phone (literally, wa-wa)! She could type! Writing was broken for her but typing seemed to work just fine! She had a way to communicate, at long last! One that did her absolutely no good right now! She blew a quiet raspberry.

Mabel tapped to the next video and slipped back into the zone of catching up on her other life. To her surprise, it was Dipper that began this video.

"I broke things off with Pacifica today," said Dipper seriously. "She…" he rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "She didn't take it well. She didn't understand. She thought things were going so great between us. And, they were! It was really hard to not be able to give her a real answer. She cried and yelled at me. It… it was the worst break up I've ever had."

The next video was back to Bel again.

"I finally convinced Dipper to talk to you, I mean, I know he does whenever you're here, but I want him to talk to you when you aren't here too," said Bel. "I promised him I would never watch his videos. I think it's the first time I've ever promised him I wouldn't snoop into his stuff and actually meant it!"

"Hey!" cried Dipper from somewhere off camera.

"Ha-ha! Just Kidding bro-bear!" Bel looked at the camera and whispered. "I'm not kidding."

Mabel flipped through the videos, watching each intently. She still didn't come across any of their adventures because they had a dedicated site for that. Even Bel made a comment that May could watch them on the channel if she wanted. They were for everyone and these were just for May. Of course Bel didn't have any idea that Mabel couldn't see them.

The rest of the summer flew by. Bel talked about her blooming forbidden relationship with their brother. Dipper was overly cautious about it. Something that, as Bel pointed out, others had started to notice.

"He's acting even more jumpy than usual," Bel was recounting. "I mean, yeah, everything's different now. But, it's not, we're the same, our relationship is the same. Just more sexy now. If he keeps this up we're going to get caught for sure… then I don't know what'll happen.

"We're only a year away from college and, once we move out, there isn't anything anyone can say but if Dip doesn't get it together soon." Bel frowned. "Even Soos is starting to notice. SOOS! DIPPER! SOOS!" Bel shouted.

"Yes! I know, you don't have to remind me!" cried Dipper, again, somewhere off camera.

"Look, if nothing else, you need to get it together for Other Mabel. How do you think she would feel if she got here and she was all alone?" Dipper muttered something back but it was too low for Mabel to hear. "He says he'll work on it." Bel frowned and the video stopped.

"So we decided on a college," said Bel with a nod. "Third choice. We haven't told our parents yet. It's not a bad college. In fact, the big reason we picked it is that Dipper and I figured out what we want to do, where we want to focus. Film. This UsTube thing has exploded over the past week. Thanks to my handywork and Dipper's nose!" There was an audible sigh in the background. "Hush, you love it too. So, we think it's time to take the next step and get the skills to really make this thing happen."

The next few videos talked about their plans at college. One of which appeared to be that they would continue to stay at the Mystery Shack and commute to school every day.

"We will both have our driver's licenses by then, so, it just makes sense, cuze we won't have to pay for an apartment," explained Bel. "Dipper kinda wants us to have our own place so that we won't be under the constant watch of others as we do our 'stuff,'" Bel air quoted stuff, which Mabel shivered at its intended meaning. "But Dipper has finally calmed down enough that people have stopped commenting on how weird he's being."

Summer came to a close and the twins returned to their final year of high school. A year, that by all accounts turned out to be the worst, most awkward year for Bel so far.

"I swear that everyone, EVERYONE, is constantly hitting on me," complained Bel, sitting on her bed back at their house in California. She flopped backwards, covering her face with a pillow and screaming into it with furstration. "For years! YEARS! I've been trying to get a steady boyfriend, and yeah, okay, some of them weren't bad. But now that I'm not on the market they keep flocking to me! And I can't even tell them why I'm not interested!

"And it's not just the boys either! I've had a couple girls try to hit on me too," exclaimed Bel. "Not that I hadn't thought about it, but," she shook her head. "One of them said she thought I was turning away all the boys because I had other needs! And that I could totally come out to her because she was already out!" Bel covered her face with a pillow again.

"I even had this super awkward moment where the other twins at our school, they're juniors, a year below us, Kris and Chris," sighed Bel. "Their parents must have hated them or something. Anyhow, they came up to me when I was alone, and Chris, the boy one, asked me out right in front of his sister. And I told him I wasn't interested. Then there was like this awkward pause and then his sister, Kris, asked me out right after!" Bel threw her hands into the air. "What is up with you world! Why do you suck!"

The school year continued. Bel talked about her continuing woes with everyone under the sun trying to get with her. She talked about her workload getting even more difficult. And she talked about Dipper and how things were going with him.

"We just passed five months in our super secret sibling smooching and snuggling relationship," said Bel. "Being home sucks! We have no privacy from our parents! And I mean, neither of us want to do anything while we are at the house, obviously. But, man, I kind of need it! We have to figure something out. As much as I hate to admit it, Dipper might be right that we should get our own place or something.

"Oh, I almost forgot, we got accept to Oregon University of Theatrical Film and Impractical Science! So, one problem solved! Now I just need to make it through this year alive!"

The year did indeed drag on for Bel. She looked more and more tired in each video. But she also looked happy, especially when she filmed anything with Dipper beside her. While almost all of the videos were her talking to the camera. There were also some of Dipper.

"You understand that everything I'm doing is for all of us, right, Other Mabel?" asked Dipper.

"Call her May! She likes being called that," interjected Bel from off camera.

"Hey! You said you wouldn't listen in!" protested Dipper. "And how do you know what she likes being called? You've never met her!"

"I'm not listening in!" came Bel's voice. "I just know you too well!" Dipper looked back at the camera and shut it off.

The next video was of them just cuddling together, downstairs on the couch, watching something. Bel didn't say anything, she just smiled contentedly. It wasn't a long video, only a few minutes but it was the first video that Mabel replayed several times for herself. Only the desire to see more finally kept her moving onwards. But, she might come back to this one if she needed it.

She looked up again from the phone, seeing the mostly empty bus. For the first time that day, felt the lingering absence of her brother. The video had strongly reminded her that he was gone from her world forever and there would never be another snuggle session with him.

The end of the school year approached, as did Senior Prom. There was much debating about what was to be done. Dipper wanted to skip it. But Bel really, really, _really_ wanted to go. However, they had a problem, a huge problem. Which was they couldn't go with each other, right? No, Dipper had insisted that was way too obvious or that they might do something in the moment they would regret.

The stress came to a boiling point with another fight that had Bel crying her eyes out. And, to Mabel's complete surprise, videos from Dipper as well.

"Mabel insisted you see us both," said Dipper into the camera. "She keeps saying that these are for you, not her. I mean, I don't know what to say, you don't think I'm being stupid right? What if we're out on the dance floor, with everyone watching and I like kiss her or something? Everyone will be watching us, judging us! I can't do this! It's just a stupid high school dance thing! I've never gone to any of them before and we won't even remember this in like a week or two! We aren't going!"

The next video was of Bel in a very pretty pink dress, her hair done up beautifully with little flowers inserted all about. She had the biggest, happiest, most excited smile on her face Mabel had ever seen. Dipper stood next to her, he was in an extremely handsome tux and an unhappy frown on his face.

"We're going to prom, together," whispered Bel excitedly.

When the next video started however, their facial expressions were switched. Dipper looked positively elated and Bel looked downright angry. They were both a mess, with Bel's hair drooping around her face and her very pretty dress torn and splattered with mud. Dipper was in much the same state but he couldn't have been happier about it.

"Our prom got invaded by ghosts!" shouted Dipper excitedly. "Well, not ghosts exactly, but vengeful spirits! It turns out that a senior who was made fun of by a bunch of other girls summoned up spirits to get revenge and - "

"Dipper!" shouted Bel angrily. "Our prom was ruined!"

"Yeah, but, I mean, we saved the day right?" asked Dipper.

"I just wanted one night! ONE NIGHT! To be with my secret boyfriend and have fun!" cried Bel. "Was that too much to ask! We didn't even get to dance!" Without a word, Dipper took the camera out of her hand, took a few steps to something Mabel couldn't see and set it down so it pointed at them. "Dipper, what are you doing?" asked Bel in confusion. Dipper fiddled with something on the screen and then music began to play, a strange echoey tone that must be coming from the phone they were recording on.

Dipper walked back over to Bel, took her hand and bowed to her.

"Can I have this dance, Lady Mabelton?" he asked. Bel blushed and smiled, nodding a moment later. Dipper took her by the waist and began to lead her in a slow, swirling dance. Bel rested her head against his chest as they swayed about the dim room in each other's arms.

When it ended, they kissed, somewhat breathlessly.

"Better?" asked Dipper after they broke apart.

"Best. Night. Ever," whispered Bel. Then she hurried over to the camera. "Uh, the next part is in a different folder." She ended the video. Mabel did not go find the other video.

They graduated. Dipper with honors and Bel, as she put, just making it. Soon enough they were back in Gravity Falls and back on adventures. Once more, Mabel's visit came around and Bel left her a message.

"Wow, okay," said Bel to the camera. "I always forget how intense it is to have you here. I thought after I confessed to Dipper those feelings you leave behind would be way more tolerable. But, they're still just… uh, I left a few more bonus videos for you in the other folder, they're all your fault by the way." Mabel closed her eyes trying to get that image out of her mind but that just seemed to make it worse. She shook her head. Nope, she wasn't going to look at any of those.

"Our bro filled me in on the sweater town thing," said Bel. That finally let Mabel refocus. "I have to say I wouldn't have guessed that but it makes sense…" she trailed off here. "I talked to Ford about it. He says he's going to look into it some more." She looked seriously into the camera. "May, what happened? What's so bad that you need to come here to escape it?"

This seemed to be the first uneventful summer in a very long time. Mabel flipped from video to video, but there were only brief mentions about the things Bel and Dipper were up to. They had indeed decided to stay at the Mystery Shack because of costs and because they liked it there. Great Uncle Ford gave them his blessing to stay. Bel also confirmed that he knew about the forbidden relationship between her and her brother.

"He didn't encourage us to continue," explained Bel. "But he also didn't try to stop us. It…" she rubbed the back of her neck, "it was a really awkward talk. He said he knew right after it happen. It's kinda scary how much he knows sometimes."

Their adventures continued as summer neared its end. So far nothing major or life shattering or world ending had popped up. The closest thing to anything was a week before their birthday where Bel had been 'late.'

"I mean, it's no big deal," Bel said to the camera. "Just because my period has been on time, every time, since it started. That's nothing to worry about… right? I mean, it's just a few days late now. It's not like I'm pregnant with my brother's baby or something… right? RIGHT?!"

"Mabel, calm down. You're freaking yourself out," said Dipper from off camera.

"I'M NOT FREAKING MYSELF OUT ABOUT HAVING YOUR BABY!" shouted Bel back and Dipper shushed her, panic in his hiss. "DON'T YOU SHUSH ME! I - mrghf" Dippe clamped his hand over Bel's mouth to stop her from shouting.

"Sorry, she's just a little panicky right now," said Dipper to the camera. "GAH, now you have me doing it!" He sharply pulled his hand away and shook it. "Eww, Mabel, did you just lick me!" She was smiling at him.

The video ended. There were several more videos that didn't have any words. It was just Mabel holding up a plastic cylinder that had a minus sign on it. There were five videos of just that, all dated one day after the other, until finally.

"Okay, crisis averted, got my period today, a week late," said Bel with a strained expression that Mabel couldn't quite read. It was so odd seeing an a look on her own face that was alien to her. Something between sadness and… regret? "Sorry to freak out on you there. But, I mean, I don't know how we would have explained that one." Her eyes flicked up to her brother across the room then she whispered into the camera. "Actually… " she shook her head. "Nevermind."

Summer came to a close but instead of returning home this time, the twins stayed at the Shack. Their first year of College began.

The first and most important thing on Bel's mind was that everyone had stopped hitting on her. At least for the first couple of weeks. Then, to her disappointment, it started up again. She was also excited not to be the only girl in their film classes. A/V club had been great, just, very boy centric.

Their film classes seemed to be split almost fifty-fifty, with actually just a few more women in them. Classes seemed not to be that much more challenging than high school. In fact, for the most part, Bel was really enjoying herself whenever she talked about it.

"DIE BRACES DIE!" shouted Bel in a video of her jumping up and down on the metal bits spread out on the ground. The camera flicked back up to her face and she smiled her metaless smile. "Finally free! I'm free! Dipper bring me the rocket!" An arm handed her a large, very illegal looking, firework. It had already been set up with rubberbands. "Hold my phone!" she commanded, and the phone was passed off so that she could use both hands to attach the braces to the exploding projectile. "Be sure to get this!"

"I've got it," said Dipper, holding the camera steady.

"See you in hell, braces!" shouted Bel as she ignited the rocket in her hands. A moment later it launched high into the sky with a whizzing sound and exploded into millions of little sparkling dots. She smiled at the camera once more, with shining white very straight teeth and the video stopped.

Bel also talked about how she was going to start her studies into becoming a veterinarian, it was part of the science branch of the school. Dipper was also looking into theoretical physics.

The videos continued on as their first year of college flew by. There were other videos of questionable content. Bel talked about the first time Dipper had gotten drunk although there was no video of it. They had been at a friend's party and he had grabbed the wrong drink, a couple times. Bel also talked about other things they had been offered. Mind enhancing substances.

"I really, really, really wanted to try it but…" Bel started to confess. Then there was that same strange expression again. Was Bel not telling her something? "I think I'll stick to MabelJuice for my kicks thanks."

"That stuff isn't a lot better for you," interjected Dipper. Bel stuck her tongue out over the top of the camera. "Besides you shouldn't be having any of that - " the video abruptly cut out.

Neither alcohol nor drugs seemed to become a constant. Dipper didn't like to drink very often and Bel seemed to actively be avoiding it, which Mabel thought was odd. Sure, she was in no hurry to try either drugs or alcohol. But it also felt odd that her older self hadn't. Afterall, Mabel was an experimenter, she would try most anything at least once.

As the videos went on though, the topic was rarely brought up. Dipper wasn't big on parties so they either went adventuring for their UsTube videos, which had grown immensely. Or, they stayed home, doing other things that Bel continued to allude to.

Mabel continued to get little glimpses into this other life as they continued into December of that year. What she really wanted though was more than just updates. Bel talked about things, told her stories but she never took videos outside of her room. Mabel never got to _see_ said stuff happening.

"May - " said Bel. She shook her head and the video ended. The next video was time stamped from the same day, a few hours later. "Hey, May. Look. I - I'm sorry, I can't. I don't want you to hate me. And Dipper doesn't want me to tell you and - " again the video shut off abruptly.

Mabel half expected the next video to be some deep, intemet confession about something. What she hadn't expected though was for the videos to skip forward months to just after her next visit. Mabel felt her body tense as the next image came on screen. She slightly regretted wanting to see things instead of just being told.

"Hey, May," whispered Bel. She was in a hospital room. There were dark circles under her eyes and her skin looked pale. "Recording this right after you left. I'm using Dipper's phone cuze you sort of broke mine. I didn't get to backup everything, so, you missed some stuff, I'm not sure how much." There was that strange expression again that Mabel couldn't read.

"Dipper thinks that whenever you arrive, you always have to be in Gravity Falls," explained Bel. "Like the time I stayed in California and we were teleported here. He has no idea how it works though. We haven't asked Ford yet." Bel closed her eyes. "Not feeling so hot, gonna talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

Mabel checked and found that nearly seven months of videos were missing. She hadn't just smashed her phone during that moment of panic and anger, she had erased parts of the life Bel had wanted her to see. Worse, it felt like there had been something important Bel had wanted to tell her.

"Dipper got me a new phone this morning," said Bel, much brighter than the night before. "I'll have to reload everything onto it but don't worry about it too much. Dipper thinks the reason I got hurt was because we were in an elevator. The doctors say my injuries are like I fell fifteen stories. We were staying on the fifteenth floor. So when I got brought here, it's like I stayed at the same height and dropped out of the sky.

"Although, that doesn't make any sense, wouldn't I have fallen onto the roof or something?" Bel shook her head. "Look, I don't blame you for this okay? We thought it would be nice to go someplace different for our summer vacation, but, well, we guess we should have thought about you too.

"Oh, and I figured out when you come back each year. One day later each time, always on the day matching the year. So you'll be back on June 19th next year, 2019. That makes it easy. Feeling kind of tired will chat you up tomorrow."

The next video wasn't from the next day but a few days after that.

"Sorry about the late video," apologized Bel. "Had to go back into surgery. Everything's fine. I'm fine, talk to you in a bit." The way she said 'fine' made Mabel think anything but that. Something was definitely wrong.

There was another, longer time gap to the next video. It was the longest break between them yet, save for the ones lost when her phone had been smashed. However, Mabel assumed Bel had been recording during the missing videos. This gap however was almost a month and it was clear from her tone that Bel had been avoiding making them.

"Okay, so, I was lying," said Bel. She was back home, well, back in the Mystery Shack that was her home now. "I wasn't fine last time. I've been mad at you. I know, it's stupid. It's not your fault. But it is! You keep coming back! You keep stuffing me with your feelings and you keep hurting me!

"I've been in physical therapy for two weeks, May!" she motioned over to the crutches leaning against the wall. "I can barely walk right now. It hurts to sleep. And me and Dipper haven't had any sex since this happened because," she held up her hands to quote him, "I don't want you to get hurt!" She glared into the camera. "I don't want you to come back next year. I want you to leave us alone. I want my life back you bitch."

Mabel didn't play the next video. She let the phone rest in her lap and closed her eyes as the tears flowed out of her. She was such and idiot! She had never stopped to consider what she was doing to Bel. Not once. She just dove in, headlong, thinking only about herself and what she wanted. Every day she buried herself in sweater town and for a day took over her other life.

That playing god had almost gotten Bel killed! What would have happened if it had?

Her whole body was shaking now. Bel had told her never to come back. To stay away. To leave her alone. Of course, Mabel had no way to hear that message, not without coming back.

She wiped at her eyes again. She needed to hear more, to hear everything. She flipped to the next video.

"Sorry," said Bel quietly in the next video. Mabel checked the date. It was the same date as the last video, just a few hours later. "I didn't mean…" she shook her head, eyes not looking at the camera. "No, I did. I meant every word." She looked up at the video. "But that's not going to stop you. I made these for you, May. So you could see my life, your life, our life and understand it. Because I thought you were me. But I don't know who you are, or what you are, or if you even care.

"I don't know if you've ever watched any of these, Dipper says you've never looked at my phone. So maybe I'm just talking to myself, and you'll never see this." Her eyes fell again. "I just need some time, okay."

The next video was a month and a half later.

"Ta-da!" said Bel to the camera. She was standing, holding out both her arms. She stood for only a moment then flopped down onto her bed. "Alright, that was the first time I stood on my own without crutches. Man, I thought braces sucked! I hate these things. Months of physical therapy and I still need them. I was hoping I would be free of them before school started, but, it doesn't look like it. Still kinda mad at you by-the-way."

Videos became more frequent again. Bel went back to talking about her life once more. As school started she talked about that. Every now and then she displayed her ability to stand without needing the crutches. She had painted one of them blue and the other pink, both were dotted with stickers.

Scattered between her updates were videos with Soos and Melody's little girl, Abby. She had started crawling at some point. She seemed to adore Bel quite a bit. Abby would crawl over and and climb on top of Bel, who seemed to enjoy every moment of the attention.

"Alright, I'm going to level with you," said Bel. It was late December now and Mabel could still see the crutches propped up in the background. "The reason I've been so mad at you isn't cuze you keep coming back. Well, it is, but I mean, I'm sort of okay with it now. I just have to accept it like other stuff I can't control, like something else I don't look forward to every month.

"At first I thought I was okay with it, and I keep telling Dipper I'm okay with it, but…" she shook her head. "Look, I can't change it. I don't even know if you can change it or if you even realize what you're doing when you're here." Bel closed her eyes. "I'm not fine, okay. I lied. I've lied to you and to myself. I'm still doing the physical therapy thing, but - fuck!" It spilled from her lips in an abrupt moment of lost control. She covered her mouth with a hand, unable to believe what she had just said. "I'm never going to walk on my own without crutches ever again. And you did this to me. And I hate you for it."

Mabel felt her heart clutch in her chest. She had always assumed that Bel had fully recovered, that things had just gone back to normal, because when she was there, everything was fine. However, it seemed that she was simply what was fine. Her being there let Bel walk. No, let her walk. What had she done…

School started up again and Bel kept leaving videos. Although she was much more subdued in them. Gone were the exuberant rants and cheerful musings. These were just the facts, read off like a board announcer talking about things she couldn't care less about.

There were still videos, they were just a lot less of them and they were a lot less interesting. She didn't even talk about her relationship with Dipper once. Nor, as Mabel noticed, did she give any updates about Soos, Melody, their daughter or either of the Uncles, something that had been a fairly frequent inclusion before. Mabel had a strange balled up feeling in the pit of her stomach that something had happened. Something Bel no longer wanted or cared to share with her.

As the end of the school year drew to a close. Dipper popped into the videos once more.

"Hey, May," said Dipper. He had called her by the nickname Bel had given her. She couldn't remember if he had still called her Other Mabel after that or not. He obviously knew a better - oh shoot he was saying something important. Mabel rewound. "Hey, May. I've been kinda listening in on Mabel's videos for you. This - this has been a really hard year for her, ya'know?

"She has always been super active but she be can't now. She had to stop going to her gymnastics class, even though they said she could still attend, she just doesn't want to. No more hiking, or sports, or anything. She just kinda sits around the attic, being all depressed and stuff.

"Look, I don't blame you. And I don't think she really blames you. But… it's been rough, okay. Please don't be mad at her."

There were several more videos of Dipper trying to apologize for Bel. But he didn't do a very good job in any of them. Moreover, Mabel didn't think he had to. Bel was right to hate her. She had messed up her life so badly.

Before Mabel knew it, summer had started again.

The next video was the day before Mabel's next visit. It was late at night. The video reminded Mabel of the one Bel had taken so long ago, when she first confessed about her feelings. Just like in that video, Bel spoke softly into her phone.

"I'm not mad at you anymore," whispered Bel. "I know that in a few hours, you'll be in my body again. Doing whatever you want. But it's not going to be what you want this year. It's going to be what _I_ want. You're going on an adventure for me." She held up a sweater. The sweater with a dragon on the front. "And I'm going to try my best and be there for it. I've been reading up on lucid dreams and stuff, and I plan to remember it. I plan to experience it. You're going to have it and I'm going to enjoy it.

"I've also set an alarm. To get you to look at my phone and see what's really going on. Dipper will make sure you don't have my phone cuze he doesn't want you to see these videos. He doesn't want you to know because he wants you to keep coming back.

"We made a video for you, talking about the woolhole and what's going to happen. And telling you about our relationship, because I don't think Dipper has ever told you!" She turned her sweater inside out, revealing a hidden pocket inside. "Once I'm done recording, I'm going to hide it in here because I don't think Dipper is going to show that video to you.

"And if all else fails, Great Uncle Ford has promised me that he'll tell you the truth. And if that doesn't stop you from coming back, I don't know what will!"

Mabel flipped to the next video.

"I did it!" gasped Bel. "I… I was there, with you! Could you feel me, May? At the end there I could even do some stuff, like saving our stupid brother's life when you froze up. And I could walk again! I could swim! It was amazing! We walked back barefoot! I wanted to fuck Dipper so hard when we got to the beach! I didn't have that much control though, but you felt it, right May?

"Still can't walk on my own, even after you left, but I got to do it for a day," said Bel with a smile. "And I was right. Dipper didn't tell you. But I know Ford did. Hope not to see you next year!"

Once more she lowered the phone. Out the window the sun had risen high into the sky. It was getting close to lunchtime. Her tummy rumbled and she tried to remember when she had eaten last. Not all of yesterday, that was for sure. Hadn't she had icecream? No, that had been in sweater town. She hadn't thought to bring any food with her either. They couldn't be that far from the rest stop now.

She switched off the device. It seemed to have a crazy long battery life. She had been watching videos on it for hours and hours now. When was she going to have to charge it? How was she going to charge it? Should she just skip ahead and watch the videos at the end to see the important ones?

No, they were in order for a reason. So, she was going to watch them in order. And if the phone died before she got to the end, well, she would just charge it in sweater town and watch the rest of them.

She frowned. Dipper hadn't wanted her to watch them at all. Why? Why didn't he want her to know?

Okay, well, that was actually easy. He didn't want her to freak out like she had. Because when she had seen the videos, the very first one, she had run away. But if he had just told her, explained it to her, like Ford had done. Okay, not like Ford. Man, that had been unpleasant.

She looked out the window, watching the scenery pass for a while. She vaguely recognized the area outside. Not from having been there but having passed it before. It was a rundown town with a few sparse houses here and there and no real anything to speak of.

She recalled the game she and her brother had played on their ride up last year, trying to guess what people did for fun in such a place. Dipper had gone with cow tipping. To which she had pointed out there were no cows. She had suggested that they made crop circles. To which Dipper had pointed out, with just as much joy, that there were no crops.

They were close now, not more than an hour from the rest stop where there would be bathrooms and food trucks. Mabel had decided she would give the videos a rest until after the stop. She had so much to absorb. The big one, the one she had never, ever, considered before was that Bel hated her. That had come as such a shock.

Dipper always seemed to indicate that her other self was okay with her being there, even after the accident that had debilitated her (which Mabel didn't know about either). But that clearly wasn't the case. That whole year had been nothing but angry videos towards her.

Bel's intent had been to scare her off. She realized that Bel had inadvertently succeeded. Mabel didn't return to sweater town after that for five years! Although it had just been a day for her and it hadn't had anything to do with learning the truth.

Mabel fished her shooting star sweater out of her bag. All the tears and seams her mother had fixed had once more come undone. She found the loose thread pooled in the bottom of her bag. So it turned out that even her mom's repairs were only temporary. Well, that was okay, she only needed it one more time anyhow. Hopefully it would hold together long enough.

Carefully she slipped it back into her bag.

She pulled out her brother's journal next, along with the black light. With a click she switched on the light and began flipping through the seemingly blank pages. Future dates and adventures flicked past. She wanted to stop and read a few but she was looking for something else. Something she had seen in a passing dream. She stopped as the page laid out before her.

 _Other Mabel_. There it was, just like she remembered it, picture and all. She re-read bits of the entry, trying to once more glean anything she could from it. Dipper's words were of concern for his sister, of suspicion of Other Mabel and what she was there to do. At the time it had seemed harsh and unfair. But now she could see he was right. She was just a danger.

 _What if something really bad happens when_ _Other_ _(Adorable) Mabel is here? Where does my sister go when_ _Other_ _(Adorable) Mabel is here?_

Mabel had an answer to both those questions. When really bad thing happened they stay with Bel forever. And Bel didn't go anywhere. She was always there, trapped like a prisoner in her own body and mind as she was forced to watch whatever Mabel did.

Mabel closed the book and put it away.

Her tummy grumbled again. Yeah, she knew, she couldn't do anything about food yet, it would just have to wait a little longer.

Thankfully, not a lot longer. The bus pulled into the rest stop where the driver announced that they would have a thirty minute break. Mabel got off with everyone else. She used the restroom (she hadn't needed to go until she stood up) then found a food truck. This one had hamburgers. They were okay but their chilly fries were amazing!

Fed, relieved, Mabel got back onto the bus and retook her seat in back. She fiddled with her phone, tempted to restart the videos again. Her brain was playing tricks on her because she knew she couldn't have that many left, there had just been those two more visits. Except, there had been a five year gap between them, which meant she had loads of videos left to watch, if Bel was even still making them for her.

And of course, she wouldn't have any more videos after leaving this year because she had taken the phone with her. What was Bel going to say to having her phone stolen? Or did it work like the journal, did it exist in both places and she could see new videos with the black light?

No, she was holding back. Partly because she wanted to be underway before she lost herself in them again. And partly because she didn't want to see them. She didn't want to know about the other terrible things Bel had to tell her. Except, she did. She wanted to know it all. Maybe that would change things when she got to her destination. Maybe it would stop her from what she planned to do.

Mabel looked down to see how white her knuckles were as they clenched around the glass phone. Thankfully it was built very sturdy because she was trying to crush it. She let her hands relax and closed her eyes for a moment, not trying to drift off but just trying to relax.

* * *

It was a car horn that woke her up, startling Mabel out of her doze. She hadn't been dreaming, she didn't think. She had just been resting. Briefly, she was confused as to where she was. She looked around, trying to get her bearings. People were sitting in seats around her and they were moving and... Oh. Right. She was on a bus. Technically, she had run away from home.

She looked down at the glass phone lying in her lap, she must have let it go when she passed out. Thankfully, it hadn't fallen to the floor and shattered or something. Maybe she should use it to call her parents and tell them where she was. At least give them a heads up that she was okay or something. Yeah, she could do that.

She unlocked the phone and backed out of the video scrapbook. She noted where she left off and that there were still many videos ahead of her to be played (she couldn't tell how many at a glance though). She found the phone option, pressed it and fiddled around until she got to a manual dialer. She entered her home phone. It rang into her ear buds. It rang again. She contemplated hanging up. Someone picked up.

"Pines residence," it was her father's voice, he didn't sound panicked or angry. It wasn't how he should sound if he had realized she was missing. She should just hang up now…

"Dipper," she said into her phone. IDIOT! Of course that's what you -

"Ma - Mabel?" croaked her father's voice. "Mabel is that you? Honey, stay on the line, speak to me! Tell me you're alright! Where are you?" Well, she couldn't answer that. "Speak to me, say something, anything! Please!"

"Dipper," she said again, a frown across her brow.

"It's you! It's really you! How's this possible! How can -" his voice cut off.

Mabel looked at the holographic display. The screen said disconnected. It also said May 5th, 2031. That… uh… that wasn't the month, or year, at all. Her future phone must be acting up. She thought about calling him back. What was she going to say, just shout Dipper's name over and over? What a stupid idea.

She thought about maybe texting them instead. Afterall, she had discovered she could type. Unfortunately, she realized she didn't know either of their cell numbers. Well, that call would have to be enough. Although it sounded like her parents weren't panicking too badly.

She back peddled through her phone and returned to the videos. Well, she had put it off long enough. Time to trudge on. She had left off with Bel telling her she hoped to never see Mabel again, so it came as a shock, when in the next video Bel was crying.

"I fucked it all up," she sobbed. "Dipper knows what I did. He knows I tried to scare you off. And I shouted back at him. I told him that he should just be happy with me and our -" Bel broke off and shook her head. "And our relationship! But he said he had never been happy with me! I'm such an idiot! I tricked myself all this time. It was just a lie! It's all just a lie!"

The video ended and the next one was a few weeks later. Bel was sitting in Dipper's arms while they recorded.

"We're fine," said Bel smiling into the camera. Mabel was surprised at the complete lack of detail or explanation as the video abruptly ended. She tapped into the next video, it too was a few weeks later.

"I don't know if you're ever coming back after what I did," said Bel with a shrug. "Right now, I don't know if I care but Dipper does. He misses you. I can hear it in his voice whenever he talks about you. Yes, he still talks about you. Just out of the blue sometimes. I hate that he - " she cut herself off, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

"Look," she motioned down towards her legs. "This thing changed me. You, changed me. That happy-go-lucky kid I used to be just isn't me anymore. And I'm angry that's gone. I miss being like that. That's what he sees in you whenever you're here. He see's you, how I was."

The next video was months later.

"Things have been rough between me and Dipper this year," admitted Bel. "He says he's forgiven me for what I did, what I told you. How I told you. And I say I've forgiven him for how he didn't tell you… but we're both lying to each other. When did we start lying to each other?"

The next video was only a few hours later.

"I think it started when we got together," said Bel quietly to the camera. "That first time. I think that was a lie and he just had to keep going with it. Telling it to me, making himself believe it. I broke my promise to you. I looked at your videos. Just the one of our first time because I knew it was there.

"They weren't for me. They were never for me. I shouldn't have done it. Because I saw it in his face. That moment he decided to lie to me. To love me like I wanted him to love me because he thought that if he didn't he would lose me forever.

"And you know what," Bel started to sob here. "He's right. He's completely right."

There was a much longer gap here. Longer than any other one before it. The videos jumped from August all the way into April of the following year. An eight month gap.

"Hey, sorry about the videos," apologized Bel in a tone that clearly indicated she wasn't sorry. "School has been crazy. Things with Dipper have been… well, not great. We're still living together but mostly cuze neither of us can afford a place of our own. And we just have the one car between us. UsTube is barely making enough for us to keep paying for college. I think I'm going to suggest we drop out and just go full time on our video thing.

"Mom and dad won't like it but I don't care, we only talk to them when we have to now. I just don't have any idea what Dipper is going to say about it. That's what scares me. Is he just going to go along with it because he feels he has to, just like our whole relationship?

"You don't care." Bel switched off the video.

She couldn't have been more wrong. Mabel did care, she really did. She wanted everything to be alright. She wanted Bel to be alright. She wanted Dipper to be alright. She didn't like their relationship but that didn't mean she couldn't understand. Mabel could see how not having it was destroying Bel, how it was ripping her apart.

Another long delay between videos, this time into the first week of June.

"It's almost time, just a few more days now and I bet you'll be back, prancing around, having fun, stealing my body. Dipper says he has something special planned. I'll be there too, in case you're wondering."

The next video was on the day Mabel should have returned that year but didn't.

"You're late," said Bel, and there was the smallest frown on her lips. Why did she look disappointed. Didn't she want Mabel gone? "You've never been this late before."

The next video was a few hours later.

"I mean, I didn't really think…" she said, and there was something in her voice that Mabel recognized as sadness.

The next video was at 11:55 p.m.

"Only five minutes left May… you aren't coming this year, are you?"

The next video was the next day, midnight on the dot.

"I… I can't believe it, it worked," said Bel. "You didn't come back this year… and… and I should be happy that you're gone… but I just feel… empty..." Her sad eyes looked up into the camera and the video ended.

Mabel's hand hovered over the button that would take her into the next video. Instead, she tapped back to return to the folder view. She cheated. Mabel scrolled down, looking ahead. There were still hundreds of videos yet to be played, with more dates over years. Bel was still talking to her, still leaving messages.

Mabel scrolled back up, her eyes searching through the thumbnails until she found what she was looking for. She pressed play and the video of her and her brother cuddling on the couch began to play. When it finished, she played it again, then again, then again. After the fifth or sixth time, she discovered she could press the loop option and the video just kept cycling.

Mabel finally let her thoughts wander as she imagined herself in better times. Why couldn't they all be like that? Why did things have to get so out of hand? Bel hated her, Dipper loved her in a weird way. Sweater town sucked and she was currently running away from home. She just wanted a place to be happy.

Was this all her fault? Her face fell.

It was always her fault. The trials Dipper had to endure over the summer had all been due to her selfishness. From giving up on Wendy to nearly ending the world. It was all because Mabel had wanted to do whatever she felt like, with no concern for what her brother needed.

His accident was her fault too. If she had paid more attention, if she had just watched where she was going. If she hadn't let him push her out of the way…

Her eyes shifted back down to her and her brother cuddled together on the couch. Older, different, in a forbidden romance with each other. They were different people whose lives she had intruded on. No more though. Sweater town had been a crutch she didn't need any longer. She had made up her mind this morning and no video or random thought was going to stray her from her goal.

Still… she wanted to know what else Bel had to tell her because no matter how her other self felt, she still had a lot to say.

Mabel stopped the playback of the cuddle video and found where she had left off. She rewatched the last entry before tapping into the next one. It was a day later. Not weeks or months.

"The feeling's just getting worse," said Bel. She wasn't looking at the camera as she spoke. "Dipper won't talk to me. He hasn't said it but he blames me that you didn't come back. Ford said that there might be any number of reasons you aren't here. Maybe we got the date wrong? Or you can't make it back for some reason. Or the woolhole might have collapsed… there's just no way for us to know…" she looked back into the camera. "If it's my fault May… I'm - I'm sorry…"

There was a week between the next video. It didn't start with Bel talking coherently, it started with her sobbing. She tried to form words, to say something. But all she could manage was to turn the camera and point it at the empty, sheetless, bed across the way.

Mabel felt her heart break in her chest. Bel didn't have to say it, she couldn't. Dipper had left her. The video ended to her sobs.

The next video was several days later. Bel was laying on her side in bed, half heartedly looking at the camera.

"Dipper hasn't called me, he hasn't texted me, I haven't seen him, or talked to him," said Bel. "I haven't left my room in days." The camera tilted down and Mabel let out a gasp. Bel was wearing the shooting star sweater. "I haven't… not for so long… and it's what started this whole mess… isn't it… maybe just one more time."

The next video was much, much longer. Bel had propped up her phone so that it was focused on her as she struggled to fit herself inside the far too small garment. It wasn't easy and it had a lot of cursing that Mabel wasn't okay hearing but at last Bel managed it. Although, her ankles and the top of her head still stuck out.

Mabel watched as Bel began to rock back and forth, muttering to herself and crying. Mabel watched the whole thirty minute long video. It ended with Bel having cried out all her tears before reaching over and shutting off the camera. Mabel had no idea if it had worked and Bel did not elaborate.

Mabel swiped into the next video which she noted was a few days later. She wasn't ready for what she would find.

"He left me a note!" shouted Bel into the camera, nearly delirious with joy. She held up the paper, which the camera tried and failed to focus on. Bel moved her hand back, fighting the auto focus and the note went blurry, readable, then blurry again. Mabel was finally able to read it but just as she started, Bel yanked it away. Luckily she began to read.

"He wants to meet me tonight, at the spot where he found the journal!" she frowned and Mabel recognized the look, even on her older face. She looked at the camera, clearly unhappy about something but she didn't elaborate.

The next video was from only a few hours later. Bel had apparently started filming as she approached the spot. As the video started, Mabel could see the silhouette of someone standing in the dwindling light ahead of them.

The camera moved and bounce in a strange halting sort of way. Mabel realized it was because of how Bel was walking. Or rather, that she wasn't walking. She was holding the camera awkwardly in her hand. While they weren't directly in frame, Mabel could catch a glimpse of the painted metal crutches as Bel moved her weight from one to the other.

The figure ahead of them turned. It was Dipper. He was looking right at them. Bel stopped in her tracks. Mabel sucked in her breath.

"Going to record this?" asked Dipper. Mabel couldn't see but she assume that Bel must have nodded, since she didn't say anything. Dipper continued with a sigh. "I guess I shouldn't have expected anything less. You've always been obsessed with that."

"I'm not obsessed," snapped Bel. "Sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean - "

"It's okay," interrupted Dipper. "I shouldn't have… look, you want to sit, we need to talk." He motioned towards the log he was standing by. Bel made her way over. The motion was strange and unsettling. She had never seen it before, watching from Bel's point of view. It was so odd because she had been in her body so often, she just never saw it like her other self did.

Dipper offered her a hand. For a very brief moment, Mabel thought Bel would shun it, or even slap him away but she let him help her. They sat side-by-side. Out in the forest and only feet away from where their crazy adventure had begun.

"I'm sorry I took off," began Dipper.

"It's - " Bel started to say.

"No, it isn't okay, starlight," interrupted Dipper. "I know things have been bad between us all year. I know I made them bad - "

"No I - "

"You didn't!" Dipper interrupted her again. "If I had just done what you asked, if I had just told her. May would have come back this year."

"We don't know that," whispered Bel quietly. "We don't have any idea what - "

"Ford told me about your test," whispered Dipper. Bel was suddenly fiddling with the camera. "You haven't told her!" Dipper yanked the phone out of Bel's hand before she could shut it off.

"Dipper! Give it back! Give me back my phone!" Bel shouted, struggling over him while Dipper held it out of her reach, his hand half covering the lens. There was fear and panic in her voice that Mabel had never heard before.

"You did all this, you told her so much else but you didn't tell her this? Holy shit Mabel! How could you keep this from her?"

"We keep a lot from her, incase you've forgotten about - " Bel cut herself off, her eyes fearful. Dipper's gaze narrowed. Bel looked at the camera then her eyes turned angrily to Dipper. "So is that why you're back? Because you felt sorry for me?" shouted Bel. "Is that why you left me the note because now you feel bad about your sister?"

"What? No, I mean, I do, I feel like crap about how things are between us," said Dipper. "But, Mabel, that isn't why. I didn't come... not just because…" He looked into the camera and raised a hand to turn it off.

Mabel could see the conflict in his face. She silently begged him with every fiber of her being for him to leave it on. Of course, watching the video after, there was no way he could hear her. Even if she had been able to say words.

At that moment Mabel finally realized what Bel had been trying to convey to her about these videos, how they were for her. They were her window into this life. It was so unfair how little she could look in on. And now, her brother was about to make her go away, to edit her out. To turn her off like she didn't exist.

He lowered his hand.

"This is why you wanted them, right?" asked Dipper. Bel nodded very slightly, then looked away. "The truth. The videos only May is supposed to watch…" He looked up into the camera, his expression very serious. "She has cancer, May," said Dipper right to the camera, right to Mabel. Mabel blinked. She… she couldn't have heard that right? Mabel touched the side of her own head. Her thoughts too jumbled up to even make the connection she was already making. "After the accident, the doctors found it in her brain. Stage four. Inoperable and terminal, brain cancer. There isn't anything anyone can do except prolong her life by a few months."

"Make me suffer," spat Bel. Dipper's face softened and he hugged his sister. She looked pointedly away from the camera.

"Six months, at the most, that's what they said, maybe another two with treatment," continued Dipper solemnly. "But that was two years ago," continued Dipper. "No one can explain it, but the cancer just isn't doing the damage like it's supposed to. It only gets bigger once a year. On the day you visit." Dipper's face fell. "I believed you were holding it back, keeping it at bay but -" He looked towards Bel, she continued to look away.

"I thought you gave it to me," blurted out Bel angrily, clenching her eyes shut as tears rolled down her face. "How could you not have? How could their be no side effects of you taking over my body every year! But… but you didn't come back this year and it's the worst it's ever been. This thing growing in my brain…

"I don't know if you gave it to me or not… but - but I think Dipper's right. You stopped it, you held it back somehow," continued Bel much more softly, her body relaxing. "I can't go back to the hospital, because… well, I should be dead. And if anyone found out they would lock me up for study. Great Uncle Ford still keeps an eye on it. When you didn't come back this year, it grew larger than it ever has before." Her body started to shake.

"I'm sorry. I've been so mad at you!" She finally looked at the camera. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" she broke down into sobs. Dipper didn't talk, he just held his crying sister in one arm and the camera in the other.

Mabel thought that was just going to be the end of the video, that any moment now, Dipper would just hit stop. She moved her hand through the time bar and was surprised to see that the video had only just started. Another video flashed through her mind. She hoped this one didn't end the same way.

Bel's sobs finally became sniffles and she finally sat back upright, wiping at her eyes and smiling at Dipper, and - Mabel noticed - the camera.

"I'm sorry too," Dipper said after a long moment. "I know that doesn't mean a lot. But I am. I needed to think, starlight. I needed to know what I really wanted. I needed to know about you. About us." Bel didn't give any indication that she had heard, or understood him, she just looked at him. "You're right you know. I was lying to you." Bel looked like she was about to break down into tears again. "At the start. I just didn't know what to do, it just seemed to come out of nowhere!"

"I sent you signals about it for months, Dipper!"

"And I'm a guy!" To Mabel's surprise, Bel laughed. Not a condescending laugh like their Uncle but her honest laugh, like she couldn't believe what she had heard. "What? I am? I'm no good with signals."

"Yeah, you really aren't," said Bel, tears in her eyes but not the sad kind.

"Look, I'm not going to lie to you about this alright," said Dipper.

"Okay," whispered Bel breathlessly.

"Mabel, I love you," said Dipper, there was a moment of joy in her eyes that was quickly extinguished by his next words. "But I love you like a sister." Bel turned her head away, her hand already reaching for the crutches resting beside her. "Stop!" pleaded Dipper. Bel did stop, her eyes closed and her body shaking.

"I should have said it back then. But I couldn't. How could I have told you anything other than what you wanted to hear. Because I love you, starlight. Because I would do anything for you. Don't you get it? I love you more than anyone else ever could. I would do anything for you. I did do anything for you."

"But you didn't want to…" said Bel, not turning around.

"Well… 'didn't want' is maybe too strong of a term..." said Dipper uncomfortably. "Again, guy…" Mabel could see the tiniest smile on Bel's face. "But you're right. It's not what I would have picked, okay? I would have been happy if things had just stayed how they were. Just best siblings, instead of best… other things…"

"Best fuck twins?" asked Bel. Dipper winced.

"That sounds terrible," said Dipper.

"Brotherly lover? Sisterly sexer!" Bel was smiling wide now. Dipper continued to look more and more uncomfortable with each new invented term.

"Yes!" cried Dipper at last. "Yes, all those things, Mabel! I would have been just as happy without the sex! I'm not saying it wasn't good! Because - " he looked at the camera, seemingly haven forgotten it was on. He moved his hand towards it but Bel stopped him.

"Oh no, she gets to hear all this too, tell her how much you liked it," said Bel with a mirthless grin.

"Mabel, come on, don't - " protested Dipper.

"Tell her!" demanded Bel.

"A lot," related Dipper. "I liked it a lot."

"Boo! Lame!" complained Bel.

"Look, yes, I enjoyed it, starlight! Okay!" cried Dipper. "Happy?" Bel shook her head, not angry but clearly not satisfied. "Can you let me finish, please?" Bel nodded. "I enjoyed it because it was you Mabel. But I would have enjoyed doing almost anything with you!"

"Almost anything?" she asked.

"Anything but losing you…" whispered Dipper. Bel's face went tight. "I knew that if I rejected you. If I said it wasn't what I wanted, you… I would lose you. Even if you stayed, you would close yourself off from me."

"Dipper…" she whispered. Dipper shook his head.

"You would have," said Dipper.

"No… I mean… I don't know," muttered Bel looking away, as if questioning herself for the first time.

"You needed it so much from me," said Dipper. "I could see it, I could feel it. If I had said no, you would have laughed it off, or cried, or done something but then just gone back to normal. But you wouldn't have been normal. You would have hated yourself, guilted yourself… and you never would've told me…" he looked pointedly at Bel and she looked away.

"I made the only choice I had," continued Dipper. "The only choice where I didn't lose you. And I'm not going to lie to you about it anymore, okay? It was hard. It wasn't what I wanted. What we were doing, where we were going, it freaked me out? I know it's wrong. I know everything about it is messed up. Mabel we had - you know… together and we lied about it. To everyone.

"But when I was with you whether it was just talking or lying around, cuddling in bed or having sex, it didn't matter. Because you were still there, you were still with me, alright? And if I had said no that day. We could have talked, or laid around or even cuddled but you wouldn't have been there, not really.

"And I don't regret my choice to love you," continued Dipper, he put his hand under Bel's chin and lifted it up so that she was looking at him. "I don't regret one second of it. If I had to do it all again. If we went back in time and you asked me again. I would make exactly the same choices. Because I'm here for you, no matter what you ask from me.

"If you want me to be your brother, I will be. If you want me to be your twin, I am. If you need me to be your lover - " he leaned forward and kissed Bel softly on the lips. The two of them closed their eyes sharing the deeply intimate moment. Dipper pulled back but Bel kept her eyes closed, lips still partly open, "then I'll always be. Because I love you, starlight. I love you more than anything else. I love you more than anyone else." His eyes finally turned back to the camera. "You know where to find the rest, May." The video ended.

Mabel felt her heart trying to leap out of her chest. She felt her brain trying to rationalize everything she had just learned. It was impossible to get her head around it all. She was all messed up inside right now. Emotions and sensations and butterflies and ants all raced through her, over her.

What the fuck had she just watched?


	13. Chapter 13 - The Mark

Sweater Town

Chapter 13 – The Mark

By Starwin

* * *

It took Mabel a long time to start the next video. She had been worried it was going to be… something she didn't really want to see. Much to her surprise, and relief, it was just a normal video. In fact, it was almost like the last year of videos hadn't happened. Bel and Dipper seemed to have fixed their relationship and despite whatever else she was going through, Bel seemed genuinely happy in each video.

It appeared that the twins had indeed dropped out of college and were now pursuing a full time video making career. Although Bel had initially said their parents were okay with it, Dipper had confirmed that their had actually been quite the falling out between the twins and their parents. Neither Bel nor Dipper elaborated but from what Mabel was hearing, she guessed the rift was over more than just leaving college.

The year raced by in a flash.

"Soos and Melody had their second baby, they're naming him Soos Jr!" cried Bel excitedly. "I think Dipper was really hoping they would name their son after him." In a flash they were back at the start of summer and Bel recorded another pre-visit video, far different from her last one.

"No one thinks you're going to be back this year," said Bel. "I don't know what to think. I'm setting my alarm again. Maybe we'll get to talk this year?" But the day came and went and while there was another video from her after, it was brief and Mabel could tell she looked disappointed.

Then in April of the following year it happened, the moment that Mabel had subconsciously been dreading. The video had started with Bel sobbing and Dipper holding her shoulder tightly. Bel tried to say something but she couldn't.

"Grunk - Great Uncle Stan passed away last night," Dipper said somberly. There was red in his eyes too, he had been crying as well. "His funeral is in a few days…" He hugged his sister tighter as she sobbed into his chest. He let the video run for a while but didn't say anything else.

Just as the twins were starting to recover, the second round of bad news hit. This time, Bel had been coherent enough to say it herself. Great Uncle Ford had passed away too, just a little over a month later. It was Dipper who was sobbing this time, curled up in his sister's lap.

It took a while for happiness to reappear in Bel's videos' but it did as summer arrived. This was the third year Mabel had not returned. Once more Bel left another video for her.

"Another year without you here, May," said Bel. "I can't help but wonder what happened to you. I mean, there are so many things about this we never figured out, that you could never tell us. Dipper says that he's over it, that he's let it go. But I know he hasn't, I read his stuff.

"Me, I don't know what to think, to be honest," said Bel with a shrug. "It's been hard to come to grips with how I feel about you and you not being here and not being me. I just wish I could talk to you or something. Just once. Setting another alarm for you next year."

Summer turned to fall and into winter. Bel's updates began to slack and videos started to spread further apart. Bel apologized that she was just super busy. They had been picked up for a new show on ComFlix, the movie streaming site, and she was spending a huge amount of time working on that.

However, there was a video in January of next year that caught Mabel completely off guard. It started with Bel in a hospital bed, smiling weakly at the camera.

"Hey, May," whispered Bel, her voice sounded hoarse. "I haven't been keeping you as up to date on our condition as I should have… It's getting worse, hence, the hospital. I've been trying to stay away, because they can't help me and it would just make things more complicated. But I sort of collapsed yesterday, and Dipper couldn't wake me up, so here I am." Bel laughed a little, a morbid coughing laugh.

"A doctor just came to see me, and give me the grim news that I have terminal brain cancer." She tapped the side of her head and whispered a soft "boop." "I told him I already knew and he seemed sort of shocked. He tried to tell me there wasn't anything he could do and that I only have a few months at the most. And I told him I already knew that too. After that he just kinda left. Dipper is filling out my release forms and then we'll be out of here.

"I hope you make it back this year so I can be with you at least one more time," said Bel.

Mabel had not made it back that year either. Bel left her another disappointed message and set another alarm. Video's remained sparse due to Bel's continued illness and the demands on her time but the important updates continued to come across. Bel hired an aid, a young woman named Elena who was also apparently a big fan of their show. Life went on and Bel continued to look worse, although she never let it get her down.

Another year slipped by and the videos continued to dwindle. It seemed at long last that Bel had accepted that her sister from another universe was gone. There were only a handful of videos for the fifth year of Mabel's absence. Just one a month. Mabel strongly suspected there were other videos, ones that were not just for her. After all, there had been many other folders to look in that she had never even opened. She debated with herself if she should continue on the path Bel had made for her or go find the missing bits in the other folders. But she didn't know how those were organized, it could take her hours just to find videos from the same time period.

No. She was going to stick with these videos until the end… She didn't have to wait long.

"You came back!" cried Bel into her camera. She was back in the hospital, she looked then in any previous video. Bel smiled. "And I finally got to talk to you, sort of…" Her eyes looked away from the camera. "Dipper isn't listening to this one, it's just you and me… because you don't want him to know, but I know." She looked back into the camera. "I know why you're here. I'm so sorry May. I wish I could hug you and make it better…

"It looks like we got one last moment together. I'm not sure what's going to happen when you try and come back next year… if you do... I've set an alarm for you, just like always. I'm guessing if you're watching this video, you figured it out... I'm not going to be waiting for you this time… I love you May."

Mabel swiped for the next video but there were no more. She backed out, looking at the long list of life entries she had watched over the course of two days with hardly a moments rest. She had indeed watched them all and there were no more, there would never be anymore.

She shut off the phone and returned it to her bag. Something in her brain was tumbling over. The last time she had gone to sweater town, when she and Dipper had sat on the couch and eaten ice cream together. Bel had already been gone by that point. She had returned to sweater town and slipped into no one's body. Which meant Dipper was all alone now.

Her frown deepened. She would do anything to have her brother back. The fact of where she was right now proved what lengths she was willing to go to… And was Dipper willing to do the same for her? If Bel had really passed away, what would do Dipper to try and get her back?

She tugged her shooting star sweater out of her backpack. It had returned to its previous disrepair after her last visit. The fixes had only held up that once. Normal thread just came undone every time she tried.

Her mind stopped as she examined the sweater again. Normal thread. That's it! She needed magic thread! No, no, wait, that was stupid. No, something else… Absently, she picked at one of the cuffs. It had unraveled a bit but wa still mostly intact.

Maybe - Maybe she couldn't use just any thread to patch her damaged garment. Maybe she needed to use this thread, this garment. It was worth a shot. It wasn't like she was really using the sleeves, not even in sweater town.

She plucked at one of the loose threads and tugged it. Bit-by-bit it slowly came out. When she had enough for one of the smallest holes, she bit the end and cut it off. Then she got her travel sewing kit out (and some of her panic candy) and set to work.

She threaded her needle with the bit of yarn she had pulled out, crossed her fingers and began to repair one of the rips on the front. As before she sewed it shut. She lifted the garment up to inspect it. She held her breath as her eyes found the tear. Except, it wasn't torn, it was fixed… sort of.

Yarn wasn't thin thread and the patch was very noticeable. Yet, it seemed to have worked. Mabel set to work scavenging spare threads from the sleeves of the sweater. Soon enough she had fixed up every rip, although the sleeves were both a few inches shorter and a bit more ragged. If she was using it as an everyday sweater, those sleeves would quickly come apart. She didn't intend to put her arms through it anytime soon, so they would probably be okay for a while.

She admired her handy-work. Not her best work for sure but she was on a bus and hadn't really been to sleep for a couple days now. The sweater looked like it had been thoroughly abused over many years, rather than how she had lovingly cared for it. But it no longer looked like some maniac with a knife had attacked it either.

Delicately she packed it away in her bag. If everything went the way she planned she would hopefully not need it.

* * *

Mabel noticed that as she got off the bus, she was the only remaining passenger. Everyone else had departed at some point but she had been far too wrapped up in her own things to notice. The driver waved goodbye, made another joke about pigs and told her to take care. She waved and smiled back to him, putting on her best fake smile. Pigs were not to be joked about. Not right now.

No one was waiting for her at the stop, which was both expected and a relief. Her parent's hadn't figured out where she had been headed. She had been worried that Soos might be waiting for her, to pick her up and send her back home. Maybe even drive her there himself to make sure she went.

But nope, it was just her and miles of empty forest in either direction. She wasn't that far from the shack, maybe a ten or fifteen minute walk. There was a shortcut she could have taken but it was possible she might just as well get lost instead. So she made her way along the road, headed to the shack.

It was much harder seeing the building than she had thought it would be. After all, she had been coming back here for years now. Years over the last few days. She couldn't escape it. She just hoped that right now she could escape it.

She stayed at the edge of the parking lot, just in the cover of the trees. There weren't many cars here and no one seemed to be outside but she didn't want to get spotted. She was almost across the lot when Soos burst out of the shack, looking right at her. She froze, praying that he hadn't seen her. She let out her panicked breath a moment later as he spun on the spot to address the tour group he had been leading. He had not seen her.

Once she was across the property, she found the trail she was looking for. It was the same trail she and Dipper had taken in sweater town. She hurried along the path, almost jogging. She was in good shape, or, had been before her two week long seclusion in her bedroom. Doing nothing but sleeping had taken a few steps out of her stride. By the time she reached the first clearing, she was doubled over with her hands against her knees, panting and completely out of breath.

This place looked exactly as she remembered it from her dreams… from sweater town. The fallen log, the stream, the stump. Not a distinct special location but one that she could clearly picture. It wasn't far now, she was almost there.

While she recovered, Mabel once more considered what she was doing, if this was really such a good idea. All answers pointed to no. This was reckless, irresponsible and crazy on the highest levels of stupid things she could do. And, her backup plans were even worse!

She fished out the future phone from her backpack and looked it over once more, reaffirming what she already knew. This was from sweater town. She had brought it back with her. If she could bring a phone… why not a person? Why not her brother?

And if that didn't work… maybe she could find a way to stay in sweater town forever… and never come back. Sure, her bro-bro there was a bit odd but having a brother that was a bit odd was way better than not having one at all.

Even better, she had learned something important in the videos. He loved her like a sister. It had been Bel that really LOVED him in that weird way. Dipper had just gone along with it because his sister needed him to. Mabel hoped, that if she ended up staying with him, he would be whatever she needed him to be, even if that was just a brother again.

She put the phone back in her bag. Her body had recovered enough for her to continue on. If plan 'A' did not work, if Bill wouldn't give her brother back - or, couldn't - than she would make one more trip into her fantasy world. She would drag Dipper back with her, kicking and screaming if she had to. Maybe.

She set off again at a jog, heading off the trail and into the deeper part of the forest. The canopy above became thicker and only shadowy light spotted the ground ahead. The trees continued to look like normal trees. They felt like normal trees too - she brushed her hand against one. In her dream they had been odd. She couldn't remember what they had been like in sweater town.

The forest went silent. The chirps of birds died abruptly and the insects stop their buzzing. Even her footfalls on the pine needles were muffled. There was a chill in the air. Mabel stopped. She pulled off her backpack and took out her shooting star. Carefully she switched sweaters, stuffing her other one back in her pack. She was close, better to be ready now.

She continued on at her brisk pace, not jogging anymore but power walking. The wind blew at her back, urging her to go faster but this was as fast as she dared go. It wasn't far now, she could feel it… then, she could see it. Ahead was the gray-ish blob, so easy to mistake for a bolder at a distance. The trees parted and Mabel found herself in an unnatural clearing.

The ground was a mixture of dirt and patchy grass. Every tree had been pushed back at least twenty feet from the statue that sat right in the center. It was just where it had been in sweater town, just like it had been. A shiver flitted through her stomach as she stood at the edge of the ring of trees. The statue's one eye glared at her, its arm outstretched, inviting her to take its hand. For a long time she just looked at it, her lungs burning and her chest threatening to collapse.

It might have been a good idea to wait to put her sweater on until she really needed it. But no way she wasn't going to risk taking it off now. She might need it, at least one more time and she wanted it ready just in case. Her eyes rested on the outstretched hand. Every fiber of her being telling her to take it, to shake it, to deal. Instead, she just stayed as far back as possible. This was the demon that could bring her brother back… and destroy the world, some small part of her brain reminded her.

Bill. Even his name made her shiver. Her thoughts drifted back to the hallway, to the dead end. She saw the moment in her mind when Bill had captured her and Dipper. He dragged them back so that he could murder one of them. Murder her.

She wasn't afraid of him. She and Dipper had helped defeat him! She took several determines steps forward so that she was half as far away from the statue. He talked big, he had crazy magic powers or whatever. At the end of the day they had won and he had lost. She took another step forward.

She would make Bill listen to her. She would hold him to his word. She would demand he give her brother back! She moved the last few feet to the statue, his hand now in easy reach. She rubbed the inside of her palm with her fingertips as though trying to get a sense of what his stony touch would feel like. She was going to do this. She was going to shake his hand.

NO! This was such a bad idea! What was she thinking coming here! There was no way she could deal with Bill! The moment she took his hand, the instant she made a deal with him, Bill would snap his fingers and just like her brother, the light would go out of her eyes.

Or worse, he would take her body and make her his puppet. She would be forced to watch as he destroyed life after life, unable to stop him. Trapped forever.

She took several shaky steps away from the statue, her eyes still locked on it. What was she doing? A deal with Bill? How could she even have considered it?

Her foot missed a step and she toppled down onto her butt, hitting the soft ground. She looked down at the sweater and the shooting star on its front. She ran her hands over the rough, torn, fabric. Dipper. That's why she was here. She was here for him. She would give anything for him, to have him back, to really, really have him back!

No, not anything, everything.

She put on her serious face. This was serious. She was going to do this. Once more her eyes locked on the statue and its outstretched greeting. Alright, she was ready! Except, her shaking legs wouldn't let her stand. Her stupid body wouldn't move.

No, no, no, no! She couldn't! Bill made bad deals, he always made bad deals! He would never give her Dipper back. Best case he would just turn her to stone the moment she shook his hand. Worst case, he would keep her around while he turned the world to ash for her to watch, then do the same to her.

"Dipper," she moaned. She began to pull her arms into the sweater, retreating from the real world once more, for possibly the last time. She pulled in her shaking legs. She kept her eyes on the statue of Bill while it vanished behind her wall of wool as she pulled the sweater up over her head.

All she had to do now was remember, one last time, the most terrible moment of her life. It came frighteningly easily to her and she began to fall.

* * *

As Mabel tumbled down into Sweater Town, a strange, terrible sensation washed over her. Above she could see the sweater coming apart. New rips and tears were opening before her eyes. Light streamed in from all sides and for a moment, she thought everything would fall apart right then and there. However, the sweater held together. Tiny threads rained down around her. She could almost feel the world coming apart. It wouldn't be long now…

Not for the first time she wondered what it would be like when her sweater finally did come apart. Would she just end up back home? Or perhaps she would be stuck in sweater town forever. Or maybe she would just stop existing all together… She would just fade away with the dream world. Where did dreams go when you stopped dreaming them?

Voices echoed through her mind and her attention was pulled from her worries. She recognized both of the voices. One voice was her brother's. His older, deeper, more mature tones she had become accustom to as of late. The other voice was completely unchanged. It sent a shiver of fear up her spine. A high pitched sound she would never in all her days forget, terrible and filled with infinite uncaring insanity. An impossible voice.

"All you have to do is shake my hand," said the voice. "Shake it, and bring me back, Pine tree."

"I want my sister back too," demanded Dipper's voice.

"DIPPER!" Mabel shouted into the dark as she fell, but of course, her words were as always, just her brother's name. It didn't seem like he could hear her anyhow or at least he didn't respond if he could.

"I'll give you anything, so long as you bring Mabel back!"

"You got it, Pine tree!" said the terrible voice. She could see a great stone hand floating above her. It was like a giant projection in the dark folds of the sweater. "Now shake my hand!" Her brother's hand reached out and she shouted again!

Abruptly, she stopped falling, her feet plopped into the soft earth. Mabel nearly did a double take. This was the first time she had ever landed outside. She was exactly where she had been in her world, yet the forest was different, older, greener. Standing just feet away from her was Dipper. His hand was holding the stone embrace of the same statue that she had so foolishly approached in her own world.

"DIPPER!" she shouted and lunged towards her brother. They collided and tumbled away across the ground. The two of them rolled to a stop in a heap, not far from where the statue of Bill stood. Its hand was still out reached, its body still gray, frozen, stone. For a moment, she thought that she had been fast enough, that she had stopped whatever was about to happen.

Then the laughter began, terrible and high pitched and insane.

She looked pleadingly into her brother's eyes, asking what he had done. But he wasn't looking at her, he was looking at the statue, rage on his face.

"No!" cried Dipper, trying to push her off him and get back to his feet. " _MY_ sister! I want you to bring back _MY_ sister! Not her!" Mabel shrunk back from him, pulling her sweater slightly over the bottom of her face. How could he say that? She was his sister... she... was... Of course, that was just the lie she had been telling herself. She knew what he was saying was true. She was a fake, an impostor in a stolen puppet body. "This isn't my sister! This is the other one that has been coming here for twenty years!" The laughter continued.

No, no, no, no! He... he was coming back. Bill was coming back!

An intense golden glow pulsed through the stone. The air chilled around them and the sky darkened, even though there were no clouds. Another bright flash lit the forest, casting long twisted shadows from the trees. She watched as cracks spread around the single large eyeball at the top of Bill's triangular body.

"What're you, an idiot?" said the echoing voice of Bill. It sounded like it was coming from inside Mabel's head. The stone prison around his large eye crumbled away. Instantly the pupil swiveled to lock onto Dipper, not even sparing the slightest glance for her. More small cracks shot out from his hideous eye, revealing more of the glowing gold triangle beneath.

"Don't answer that, I know you're an idiot," continued Bill. "I'm an interdimensional demon of chaos and destruction, Pine tree, not a magic genie! I don't grant wishes! I can't just snap my fingers and bring people back to life! You asked for your sister? Well there she is! The best you're ever going to get. Even if she is looking a little too old! Time to change her back to her proper shape."

Bill snapped his fingers and the stone around his hand and arm shattered away. Mabel felt a sharp pain twitch through her body. The world began to grow around her. She was shrinking. Her skirt suddenly felt loose on her hips. Her sweater and shirt were far too big. She clutched at her clothing, trying to keep it in place. In a moment the sensation stopped and she felt like a little girl playing dress up in her mother's clothing. Dipper was staring at her in disbelief but Bill just continued to laugh.

"Ah-ha-ha-ha! There you go, Pine tree, your sister. Just the way you want her to be! Without all that made up fluff and emotional baggage! Am I right?"

"She isn't my Sister!" Dipper shouted.

"Dipper," Mabel whispered, feeling herself on the verge of tears from the shame of his refusal to acknowledge her.

"My! Name! Is! Mason!" shouted Dipper almost turning red in the face. "No one, except for you, has called me Dipper for six years! Not since you died! " His last words echoed through the woods. Mabel could hear them ringing in her ears. Since... since Bel had died… WAIT? SIX YEARS? She had been away for six years? Dipper's rage filled expression seemed to fall and he look ashamed of what he had said. "I - I wanted to tell you when you came back but - "

"Hey, that's great," interrupted Bill. "Really fantastic!" There was a loud cracking sound and the triangular demon popped out of the ground like a cork. He drifted downwards slightly before floating to a stop in the air, rather than landing. He looked down at the twins, now twenty years apart in age. "I'm sure you have a heart felt speech all ready for this touching moment." Bill snapped his fingers again and blue fire wrapped around Dipper, forcing him to kneel on the ground. "But I'm a busy guy. So, if you don't mind, or heck, even if you do mind, I'll be taking over that body of yours so I can start my conquest of your stupid universe!"

"Dipper!" shouted Mabel, trying to run towards her brother. Her loose clothing caught around her legs and she tumbled down face first into the dirt. Bill spun around to face her.

"Ha! That's pretty funny shooting star, or maybe I should call you fallen star? I like that better! Were you planning on trying to stop me? You don't even have a can of spray paint this time," laughed Bill.

In the blink of an eye he covered the distance to hover inches above Mabel, where she lay on the ground. His giant terrible form loomed over her, his one nightmarish eye gazed down at her. He reached out a massive hand and plucked her off the ground, leaving the bottom half of her clothing behind so that her sweater was all that came with her. She even lost her socks and shoes.

"You know, I think I'm going to finish what I started so long ago," mused Bill, rubbing the bottom of his eye like a chin. His eye flickered to the image of a pine tree before it changed to her shooting star.

"No! Bill! Stop! Don't harm her - " Dipper began.

"What do you even care if I harm her?" asked Bill. He sprouted another arm and reached out to pick up Dipper. He pulled the twins side-by-side. One of them more than thirty years old, the other a mere thirteen. "You don't even care about her, but I can see she cares about you!" His eye changed back to the silhouette of the pine tree. "Maybe I should just take her body instead, eh, Pine tree?" Dipper struggled in Bill's grasp. "I've already been inside of your body and I wasn't really impressed." His eye split down the middle so that half was a pine tree and the other a shooting star. "Or heck, maybe I'll destroy you both, just because I can!"

"No!" Dipper cried. "No... let her go! I'll give you my body if you leave Mabel alone." Her brother looked completely and totally defeated. Bill set Dipper down on the ground. The giant hand that had been holding him shrunk down so that he could offer it to Dipper.

"Fantastic! Let's shake on it," said Bill.

"Dipper!" shouted Mabel, still trying to struggle free.

"I... I can't lose you again," said Dipper. His arm rising slowly to reach out for Bill's. "Even if it isn't really you." She continued to struggle. She had to speak, she had to tell him to stop! Bill could not be trusted!

"Dipper! Dipper! DIPPER!" Mabel shouted so loudly her throat felt raw with the effort. Her stupid brain! Her stupid brother! She. Had. To. Speak!

She felt it before she heard it, real words pouring out of her, saying the most important thing she could think of-

"MASON!" Mabel shouted. Dipper froze, his hand half reaching out to Bill. Her brother looked at her, surprise on his face. He wasn't the only one, she felt just as surprised as he did. She... she had said something else. Something other than 'Dipper.' Bill on the other hand looked annoyed. "DON'T TRUST B - " was all she could manage before another arm grew out of the hand Bill was holding her with and clamped itself over her mouth.

"Don't listen to her, she's crazy! Look, I'll make this simple, you have five seconds to shake my hand or I'll rip your sister apart," said Bill, his fingers transformed into tiny (although still large for her) limbs. Two hands grabbed her arms, while two more pulled her legs. One hand still managed to cover her mount somehow. "Limb-by-limb." Dipper looked horrified. "One!" counted Bill.

Dipper's hand began to move but very slowly. Mabel frantically shook her head, trying to shake Bill's hand away. The expression on Dipper's face told her the cogs of his brain had gone into overdrive. Right now she wasn't sure if he was trying to figure a way out of this or debating her fate. Afterall… she wasn't Bel.

"TWO!" said Bill even more loudly. She bit down as hard as she could on the hand covering her mouth. It was tough as hide and tasted of rotten eggs. Bill didn't seem to feel anything. Dipper looked at her, his face torn and confused. His hand was almost touching Bill's, and his eyes pleaded for her to tell him what to do. She shook her head as best as she could. Her thoughts screaming to him.

 _Don't trust Bill! Don't trust Bill! Don't trust Bill!_

"THREE! I think I'll start with her right arm first."

"Mawsawn!" shouted Mabel desperately, her voice muffled. "Will mwaks wad eals!"

"THREE and a half!" Dipper suddenly dropped his arm, he was glaring at Bill. A strange expression spreading across his face. Had her brother actually heard her thoughts? No, no she recognized that expression. Even on this aged face, she knew what it meant. He had figured something out, realized some fact that was staring him in the face.

"FOUR! FIVE!" Bill said rapidly. "Man, you're a cold hearted kid. I didn't think you had it in you! You're just going to let me murder your sister, huh? Last chance here, just shake my hand and you can save her!"

Bill tugged at her limbs for effect. Mabel bit down on her tongue, determined not to make a sound. He was trying to make a show of it, to get her to react so that Dipper would change his mind. But they couldn't let Bill go free, no matter what happened to her.

"No," said Dipper shaking his head. " _I_ don't think _you_ have it in you, Bill." That confused Mabel. He… he was saying that Bill was bluffing?

"You don't think I'll end her just for the fun of it?" asked Bill. He tugged at Mabel again. Oh hot-fudging-ice-cream-cake did that hurt.

"I don't think you can," said Dipper coolly. "I didn't see it until now. I didn't really think about it. But you've never killed a single person."

Mabel realized that Dipper - Mason, was right. She had never seen Bill kill anyone. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more sense it seemed to make. He threatened, he captured, he intimidated. But every single person had come out of Weirdmadon unharmed, at least physically. It was so weird to think it but her brother was right. Bill couldn't kill.

"Kid, I've destroyed entire universes!" said Bill. "You think I can't kill two little brats like you!"

"No, you can't!" shouted Mabel, finally getting her mouth free. "Because if you could have killed anyone, it would have been me!" Both Bill and Mason looked at her. Her brother in surprise and Bill… in anger? "When you first got the rift, I was alone, defenseless. If you had finished me off right there you would've won. There would have been no way for us to stop you but you trapped me in that bubble!"

"And you wouldn't have sealed our friends away when they were the only ones that could form the zodiac!" added Mason, including his own moment that had made him realize the truth. "You would have just wiped them from existence."

"A waste of my abilities," countered Bill, but there was a note of uncertainty in his voice that neither Mabel nor Mason missed.

"Your infinite, immense, abilities?" asked Mason. There was a long moment of silence. Then, Bill began to laugh.

"Alright, alright, you win!" said Bill. He let go of Mabel. She dropped out of his grip, plummeting towards the ground with a yelp. Rather than crashing into the dirt, Mason managed to catch her in his arms. "I can't believe you had it in you to call my bluff! You're right kid, I can't kill you. Either of you."

"The zodiac," whispered Mason. Mabel looked up at her brother, still in his arm, her whole body pressed against his chest as he held her protectively. "It isn't just a weapon against you, it's a shield to protect us."

"You really are one smart kid," said Bill. "I mean, sort of, you were dumb enough to almost take my deal a second time. Dumb enough to take it the first time too. But you're right, you and your sister and all those other chumps are protected from me. I can turn you to stone or seal you in a prison of madness but I can't directly cause you permanent physical harm. That was the job of my stupid hench minions, who couldn't even get that right!" Bill looked thoughtful for a moment. "Of course, I could just imprison you both." He held out his fingers towards them, ready to snap and make them stone. "Maybe you want to be garden ornaments for the next thousand years?"

"We'd just escape and beat you up," said Mabel. Bill's eye narrowed. He began to laugh again.

"You know, coming from any other person I would say you were bluffing, fallen star," said Bill. "I made a good choice marking you." He began to shrink in size, drifting slowly towards the ground as he adjusted his tie. He did not land on the dirt but floated just above it.

"Do what now?" asked Mabel.

"Don't tell me you didn't even notice?" cried Bill, his voice almost giddy with excitement. "And I thought you were the smart one in the relationship!"

"What did you mean mark me?" demanded Mabel, only blushing slightly at the word 'relationship.' She had never seen a mark on her body from Bill. And she had spent a lot of time lately looking at her body.

"You obviously remember that mind prison I locked you away in for all eternity," said Bill.

"Or a week," mutter Mason under his breath.

"Yeah, well, it should have been all eternity. It gave away my little weakness you were so quick to shout out to the **WHOLE WORLD**." Bill shouted these last few words and some nearby birds scattered from their trees. Mabel nodded. Of course she remembered MabelLand, it was impossible to forget.

"How exactly did you think that all worked?" asked Bill.

Mabel raised a confused eyebrow at the floating demon. She had never really thought too hard about it. Sure, she remembered it, she even still questioned if it had been the right choice to leave it. The answer, until Dipper had – until she had lost her brother – had always been yes. But she had never really considered too much else about it. The place just made her dreams come true. Bill's eye smiled for him.

"I don't know," she said at last, with a little shrug. "You just made some kinda magic-ie thing that read my mind or something?" Bill shook the top half of his triangular body, a gesture similar enough to be a head shake.

"You got it all wrong," said Bill. "I made the bubble but you did all the work."

"Because the bubble thing let me," said Mabel pointedly.

"Nope," said Bill. "The bubble just helped sustain your creations, and, you know, keep you out of my hair."

"You don't have any hair," interjected Mabel pointedly.

"GAH!" groaned Bill, rubbing his eye in frustration. "You're really testing me today. Look, it was just a pocket of the dreamscape. _You_ made everything inside it happen. And when you finally rejected it, your own thoughts turned against you, to try and keep you there."

Mabel remembered how the world had turned on he, and how it had done a crummy job of keeping her there. She also felt confused. How had she made any of that happen?

"I've never met a being that could resist doing a deal with me," explained Bill. "One of the smartest men on this planet made multiple deals with me. Heck, even your idiot brother almost made a second deal with me! Look, he even set me free!"

"Hey!" protested Mason but then he looked ashamed.

"But you," said Bill, pointing at Mabel. "You refused my deal. I offered you anything you wanted and you know what you said?" Mabel shook her head, she didn't ever remember Bill offering her a deal. "You said no before I even asked! There was nothing I could have given you that you would have taken! I could see it in that sack of meat you call a brain! There was no temptation strong enough. You wouldn't even have set me free to save your own brother!"

Mason's eyes found hers and she looked away. Her mind slipped back to her world, to Bill's stone body out in the woods, his inviting hand stretched out, waiting for her to take. If she popped out of her sweater right now, she would be only feet from the statue of Bill in her world.

"Ha! Even now you wouldn't do it! You've got a will of titanium and glitter, kid! I knew I couldn't convince you, so, I just gave you a tiny faction of my power instead," explained Bill with a shrug.

Mabel and Mason both shouted "WHAT?" at the same time. A very rare occurrence for them to speak in unison.

"Yep," said Bill confidently.

He reached out a hand and poked Mabel hard in the forehead. For a moment, she felt blinding hot pain where he had tapped her. She reached up to cover the spot but it hurt even more, so she pulled her hands away. Bill's hand on the other... hand, was shape shifting into a mirror. Mabel could see her thirteen year old face, the face she had almost forgotten, reflected in the shiny surface. Except with one major difference, burned into her forehead was a glowing golden triangle.

"Surprised you never noticed it before," continued Bill as Mabel examined the - the thing - burned into her skin. "No way for you to refuse it or not use it. It's part of you, like a hand or foot or whatever else you humans have. There was always the risk you might notice it and use it against me somehow but you never did. It's just a small portion of my power anyhow. Only enough to destroy a single world at a time with a snap of your fingers."

Mabel brought her hand up, her thumb and forefinger pressed together, ready to snap. She looked at it as though she were holding a bomb in her hand. Then her gaze locked on Bill and she snapped her finger. A look of terror crossed his face.

"What! No! My one weakness! How did you know!" screamed Bill as his triangular body began to break apart, shining pieces of him scattering off into the wind. Mabel glared at him, no remorse in her heart. His scream grew terrible and more high pitched until it changed into a laugh that sent ice through her veins. She felt confused. Bill's body began to reassemble.

"Oh, come on fallen star, it doesn't work like that at all! Besides, it's my power! You really think you could destroy me with my own power! You're just as big an idiot as Pine tree!" Bill brushed himself off.

"I guess you did figure some of it out though," said Bill, glancing around. "Of course, you didn't use my power the way you were supposed to. You forgot to push the other person out of their body first." He tapped the side of Mabel's head. "How's that been working out for you, fallen star? Nothing strange in your head, right?" She felt her face flush and she looked away, something that wasn't missed by her brother. "That's what I thought.

"Well, I can't say this hasn't been fun, but I'm outa here, see you two REAL SOON when I come back to destroy this place!" shouted Bill, his body enlarging into a fiery red demonic triangle as he shouted 'real soon,' before returning instantly into his normal shape.

Bill straighten his hat, adjusted his tie and before either of twin could say anything else, he rocketed skywards. Mabel watched him climb higher and higher into the sky.

"That… that can't be good," muttered Mason.

"Don't worry bro-bro, I have a feeling he isn't going to get very far," said Mabel with a half smile as she watched him race towards the sweater wall. A moment later, he crashed into it and bounced off. From very, very, far away, they could hear his angry voice shouting down at them. An instant later, Bill was back, hovering before them, murder in his eye.

"You have to be kidding me! You brought me back and I still can't leave!" shouted Bill.

"Looks like you'll be hanging around here for a while," said Mason, with a smile. Mabel felt her heart clench in her chest. Her brother was still holding her and she turned to hug his torso. "Mabel?"

"Oh, I see what's going on here!" cried Bill. "Oh, oh this is too much! HA! Of course! It doesn't matter if I can't leave this place, it isn't going to exist much longer anyhow, is it, fallen star?" Mabel shook her head, not trusting her voice. She wished all she could say was her brother's name again, instead of the truth.

"Mabel, what's he talking about," asked Mason.

"I... I can't, I can't say it," said Mabel.

"I was right, wasn't I," said Mason quietly. "The portal that brought you here, it's closing isn't it?" Mabel just nodded.

"The part she isn't telling you is that when it closes, this whole world closes with it!" said Bill happily. "She made this whole place up! She made you up! You aren't even real kid, just a fantasy! And when she wakes up for good," Bill blew on his open hand, "poof! You won't exist!"

"Neither will you!" said Mason bitterly.

"Ha, it's funny that you think I'm trapped here with you," said Bill smugly. "Enjoy the short time you have left. I'm getting out of this universe!" The corners of Bill's body began to fold inwards, making him smaller and smaller. "I'm sure I'll see you two again, maybe at your place next time, fallen star!" and then the last corner folded in and he was no bigger than a corn chip. With a soft pop, he was gone.

The sky above them grew bright and sound flowed back into the world. The wind gusted by ruffling Mabel's hair and making her shiver. Her sweater wasn't doing the greatest job of keeping her unclothed lower half warm on it's own.

The twins stayed silent, Mason still holding his sister in his arms. She wasn't complaining. She liked it. Having an older brother was kinda neat in a way.

"Mabel," whisper Mason, and she was snapped out of her moment. "Is the world really ending?" She shrugged. "You've played the silent game with me long enough."

"Right, sorry," said Mabel. "I, I just kinda got used to it..." She trailed off into silence. "I don't know what's going to happen."

"Is it alright if I put you down?" asked Mason, she nodded and he set her down. She tugged on the sweater trying to pull it lower but it was just barely long enough to reach her thighs. She quickly looked around and spotted the rest of her lost clothing. She went and retrieved it but didn't try to put it on. "How... how long have you been coming here?"

"A couple weeks, from my perspective at least. I know I missed some days, stuff got, crazy for me... crazy for you too I suppose." Mason nodded. It was his turn to be silent. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen. It just kind of happened." She chewed her lip.

"Dipper... My brother... He died," explained Mabel at last It wasn't okay saying it but she could say it, not just think it. Mason looked almost impassive as she finally told him. He seemed to want to hear everything she had to say. "I couldn't deal with it, obviously. So, I hid in sweater town. Hid here. I was just trying to... you know, escape. But somehow it led me to you. I couldn't believe it. This all felt so real, so I kept coming back..."

"How - " asked Mason, his voice cracking as he spoke. "How did... your brother die?" Mabel looked at the ground. It had been more than twenty years for him but still only a few weeks for her. If anyone deserved an answer though, it was him.

"Car accident," said Mabel. "A driver went through a stop sign and hit him. He pushed me out of the way." Something in Mason's expression seemed to change. His gazed over Mabel as if just seeing her for the first time.

"Car accident…" he mumbled. "Mabel… how old are you?"

"Thirteen?" said Mabel, caught off guard by the question.

"That… that happened to me," said Mason. "Some jerk in an SUV ran a stop sign. I pushed Mabel out of the way and he hit me instead. I ended up with a couple broken bones and we had to put our adventure on hold for a week." He moved his left arm. "My left arm and leg got it the worst. I had casts on for a month and a half. You covered them in stickers. The Doctors said if the driver had stopped just a second later I would have been…" he looked away.

Mabel felt her face fall. A second. That was all the difference. She had lost her brother over one tiny insignificant second.

"I'm… I'm sorry," said Mason quietly. "I lost my starlight… my Mabel so long ago… The pain never really goes away. After she was gone, I didn't know what would happen. I didn't know if you would come back - if you could come back. But you did and I just kept hoping you would keep coming back so I could see her again.

"But after you found her phone…" said Mason, looking away. "Whatever you saw… Mabel, it's been five years since you were here." Her eyes widened again. "I didn't think I would ever see you again."

"Why didn't you tell me the last time I was here?" asked Mabel. Mason shrugged uncomfortably.

"I wasn't ready. And how could I tell you? You were her... sort of," said Mason. "I had my sister back. My sister I could never tell anyone else about." His eyes swept over her small body. "What did Bill mean by that last part… about you not using your power correctly…"

"I don't know," whispered Mabel. "I shouldn't have kept coming back. I messed up her life so bad, I messed up both your lives so bad… I'm sorry… I - " She broke down into sobs collapsing to her knees in the dirt. Mason only paused for a moment before kneeling down to hug his little sister. She sobbed into his chest.

"I'm thirty-two, Mabel," whispered Mason into the top of her head as she continued to cry. "It's been almost twenty years for me. So long since I was the same age as you. Six years since I lost you… lost my sister. And I've spent all of it trying to get her back.

"Great Uncle Ford was researching the mysteries of this town, but he only wanted to know the reason why," said Mason. "I needed to find a way to bring you back." He went silent for a long moment and she could feel him squeeze her harder, a pained longing in his touch that she recognized in her heart. "But try as I might, there was nothing I could do.

"Then, a month ago, you called our parents," said Mason. She felt confused until she remembered the future phone. It hadn't had the wrong date after all. It hadn't been _her_ dad on the other end, well, it had been, just not her-her dad. Mason interrupted her thoughts as he continued. "To say that our parents were confused was an understatement. Dad swore that it was your voice on the line and the call history showed it was your phone number.

"They didn't understand what it meant, but I did," said Mason. His eyes drifted away from her. "It meant I was out of time, that you were coming back. I made a desperate decision…"

"Bill," whispered Mabel. Mason nodded, still not meeting her eyes. She grabbed his hand. "Hey, I…" she looked up into the sweater sky, up through the neck hole and into the forest of her world. She couldn't see the statue of Bill through it, but she knew it must be there, just slightly out of sight. "I would have done the same… I almost did…"

"Almost?" asked Mason, his eyes searching hers.

"It's a long story," said Mabel. "But the very short version is I'm sitting next to Bill right now, in my world. But once I got there… I couldn't…. I just - "

"Bill makes bad deals," whispered Mason. She nodded. "I'm such an idiot!"

"Yeah, bro-bro, you are," agreed Mabel. Mason frowned at her. "We both are."

He let out a chuckle. She squeezed his hand tighter and glanced skyward again. She watched as the patched threads she had put in place slowly continued to open. It couldn't be long now before the whole world came apart.

Mason followed her gaze into the sky, his eyes searching hopelessly for what he couldn't see.

"What do you see when you look up?" he asked.

"My sweater," said Mabel. "Since the day I got here I've always been able to see it. Even inside." Mason nodded and finally let her go, leaning back so he could see her face.

"The woolhole… sweater town," he said, more to himself than Mabel. "And I was right about it, wasn't I, it's closing for good." She didn't answer, instead she had tugged some of her long hair into her mouth and started chewing it. Mason smiled. "I'd forgotten you used to do that." Mabel smiled at him around her hair.

"I don't know what's going to happen when it closes," admitted Mason. "You might not be able to come back or this world might stop existing." Mabel had started to fidget with the hem of her sweater. She didn't want to talk about this. She really, really, didn't want to think about this. "But I've been outside Gravity Falls. I've been all around the world in fact. I know it's real. No matter what Bill said. But what do we do now?"

Mabel glanced back up at the sweater above. She could see the many dozens of holes in the fabric slowly growing larger. Errant threads continued to rain from the sky like snow. She caught one in her open palm and watched it unravel into nothing. She glanced back up at the streams of light as they poured in through rips and tears. She could also see the neck hole, and through it, the sky…

"I think I might have an idea... but first, I need to get some clothes that fit."


	14. Chapter 14 - The Girl

Sweater Town

Chapter 14 – The Girl

By Starwin

* * *

Mabel and Dip - Mason, she was going to have to get used to that again - hurried back to the Mystery Shack. Their pace wasn't as fast as she wanted but it couldn't be helped. She had little more than an undershirt and a purple sweater on at the moment. Even her shoes didn't fit.

Running half-naked through the woods wasn't very much fun. She had always imagined that running naked through the woods would be very enjoyable. Feeling the breeze on her skin, the scent of pine in her nose and of course, bare toes in the squishy dirt. Admittedly, she was power walking, not running. There wasn't any breeze, nor could she really smell the pine. And being barefoot, off the path on pointy pine needles and sharp rocks was anything but fun. Especially with her way older brother near by and the end of the world literally hanging over her head. This was just a hassle she didn't need right now.

Not having shoes meant she needed to be a bit more careful where she stepped. It slowed their pace considerably, stealing valuable time that she didn't have. Her brother had suggested she just wear the shoes that were too big for her so that they could go faster. But they had kept falling off every few steps and so it only slowed their pace. She had suggested that he carry her on his back but he reminded her he still only had noodles for arms.

"You held me up just fine when Bill dropped me," countered Mabel.

"Are you kidding!" complained Mason. "It was taking everything I had to just stay upright holding you!"

"Did you just call me fat?" exclaimed Mabel in mock horror.

"What? No! I just meant - hey! Stop laughing! This is serious!"

"Uh, yeah, seriously funn - ouch!" cried Mabel. She hadn't been looking where she was going and her foot had whacked into a rock. Her brother spun around, concern on his face. She hopped back and lifted her foot to look for damage. She didn't see any blood or bruising but, wow, did that smart.

"Are you alright?" he asked, his eyes looking over her before he turned away. "Sorry."

She was confused for a moment, then remembered her sparse clothing. Maybe she should have felt embarrassed or something but really, she didn't have room for that right now. There was too much else to deal with.

"It's fine, don't worry about it, I just need to watch where I'm going," said Mabel. "Come on, we need to keep moving." Her brother nodded and started walking again.

"So," he said. "You can talk again. Well, I mean, you've always been able to talk. But now you can say more than just my name." Mabel nodded, although he had his back to her so he couldn't see. "How'd that happen?"

"Which part?" asked Mabel. "The part where I got stuck on your name or the part where I got off it?"

"Both?" asked Dip - darn it, Mason.

"It started when I lost you… I mean, when I lost Dipper," said Mabel. "I just… it felt like something inside me broke when it happened. And I just couldn't stop saying your name, hoping you would wake up… or come back to me somehow." Mason nodded.

"I remember that," he whispered, not looking back. "I don't remember a lot from after accident but I remember that. You - Mabel, she was holding me when I regained consciousness, she was calling my name. I passed out again after that and woke up in the hospital."

"I don't know why I got stuck," continued Mabel. She did not elaborate that the tumor inside her head might have something to do with it. She wasn't ready to talk about that just yet. "I tried to say other things, I really did, I tried to write them too. It turns out, I could have typed them all this time." Mason whacked himself in the head.

"Of course you can!" he exclaimed. "How did I miss that! Mabel said she was already looking at my laptop that night we - uh, the time she was teleported to Gravity Falls, the year she didn't come up with me. _You_ would have had to type my password!"

"Anyhow, I don't know why it never worked before," said Mabel with a shrug. "But when you were about to make that deal with Bill… I had to say something. And it just sort of kept coming out."

"Admittedly it's pretty strange," said Mason. "But I can't say that anything about this whole situation isn't strange." Mabel had to agree with that. "Maybe it was just the trauma of losing your brother that caused it? Perhaps seeing me in danger gave you the ability to overcome the block?"

"Or maybe it was just the most important thing I could think to say," whispered Mabel mostly to herself. "And nothing else mattered."

"What?" asked Mason, clearly not hearing most of what she had said.

"I said, that's as good a theory as any," said she. Her brother frowned frowned, clearly knowing she had said something else.

"So what now?" he asked. "What's the plan here?"

She had been expecting this question ever since she had dodged it the first time. The problem was, she still really didn't have an answer. The wheels of her brain had been turning since before she got here, trying to decide what to do. But so far, she didn't have a lot of idea for all her effort. Really, she just had vague concepts at the moment.

"Still working on it, bro-bro" said Mabel. And she _was_ working on it. She was trying to think of what to do next. She knew the one thing that mattered, the goal she needed to reach. She wanted to have her brother back. It was the how part she was still fuzzy on.

Her brother was the planner, he liked to know every step, often in way too much detail. But she was a doer. She just did. It had always worked for her before. Well, it had mostly worked for her. Okay, it sometimes worked for her.

There was a lot to be said about thinking before you leapt. If she had just stopped to think about what she was really doing with sweater town, maybe things would be different, better. She frowned. If she had just stopped to look both ways before going out into the street, maybe Dipper would still be…

She shook her head. No. Now was not the time for this. She looked up at the tearing sky. Now was the time to figure out what the heck she was going to do about that! Could she even do anything?

Threads continued to rain down on her as they hurried towards their destination in silence. Their sizes were all different. Some were tiny, as small as a snowflake, which was odd because the sweater above her had to be huge. Others were bigger than a house, tumbling out of the sky as if they were light as a feather and drifting down into the forest and out of site.

She didn't seem to be able to actually touch them though. A few small-ish ones had fallen towards her but whenever she tried to grab them they drifted through her like they weren't really there. Like they were ghost threads.

She could feel a plan forming in the back of her mind. She just didn't have all the parts yet, beyond staying with her brother somehow. No, that wasn't completely true. It wasn't a plan. It was plans. All three of them crazy, all three of them impossible. She liked impossible though. It was fun to do the impossible.

The first plan, 'Plan A' - Mason would be so proud if he knew that she had labeled them, and less proud if he heard how crazy they were - was the most straightforward. It consisted of her wrapping her arms and legs around her brother and holding onto him for dear life. She hoped that would be enough to drag him back to her world when sweater town came crashing down. It would most likely be the only thing she would have time to do if the end came abruptly.

The second plan, 'Plan B' - hey, naming them was pretty easy - required something, her shooting star sweater. She had seen it a few times when she had come to sweater town, so it certainly existed here. She didn't have any details for this plan yet. But, since she needed new clothes anyhow, finding Bel's shooting star sweater was the first, and currently only step, in plan B.

The last plan, 'Plan C' was the one she was the least excited about. It was her plan of last resort. If all else failed, her final plan was to stay here and not return home at all. Of course, how she was going to do that she hadn't figured out just yet. It was a work in progress. They all were. Except plan A, that was solid.

Mabel stared at her brother's back, wondering what he would think if she dragged him back to her world. He was clearly hurting from Bel's loss. But she wasn't Bel. No, she couldn't lose him again. Even if he hated her for it afterwards, they would work it out, it just might take some time. Hopefully not twenty years.

She let her eyes drift away, they had reached the end of the trail. The towering roof of the shack rose up ahead of them. Mason didn't pause at the edge of the parking lot but continued quickly across. Mabel followed, her bare feet feeling tender. She loved being barefoot. She always felt so free and at ease without shoes on. At the moment however, her feet informed her that they hated being barefoot and that if she ever wanted to do it again, she could forget it.

Save for one car, the parking lot was completely empty. A bright pink, four-wheel-drive, open top, Geep sat in the spot where their Grunkle had always parked his car. It was hard not to look at the thing. It was the sort of color most people would have gouged out their own eyes rather than look at. But for Mabel it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen! There was even a rainbow painted on the back!

It was a bit odd that the lot was so empty though. When she had crossed it in her world it had been filled to capacity. There had even been several buses. But this lot just had the one amazing pink off-road vehicle in it. It wasn't until Mason led her inside that she realized why there were no other cars. The Mystery Shack still had the sign on the outside but on the inside it was very different.

The area they had entered used to be the main hall of oddities. However, the majority of bizarre creatures had once been displayed here were gone. The last time she had been in this room it had been a production studio for their UsTube show. Now, it was packed with strange equipment that she did not recognize at all.

"My lab," explained Mason, when he noticed her stopped at the door with a look of confusion on her face. "This is where I do most of my work to… my work to find a way to bring - bring my sister back…" She nodded, not sure what to say to that. "Soos and his family are on vacation. Abby's about your age so some of her clothing would probably fit you, her room's just down the hall." Mabel nodded again, then glanced up. The unraveling sweater spiraled above her, taking the place of the ceiling.

"Can you get me a ladder while I go get some clothes?" asked Mabel. "I want to try something."

"Sure thing," he said.

She headed off down the hall. The rest of the Mystery Shack was much as she remembered it. The outdated appliances of the kitchen remained the same. The living room still had the couch, although it looked a little worse for wear, and a holographic tv.

Her hand touched the doorway. Her eyes found the peeling wallpaper and the cracks in the joints.

Six years since Bel had... since she had passed away. That's what Dipper had said. Had she been gone for six years? No, only five. She had been back the year after Bel had died, she was sure. It seemed like every time she skipped a day in her world, five went by in this one.

This was the second time she had come to sweater town with no body to inhabit. She was here now and Bel wasn't. Mabel put a hand over her heart and felt the soft beat of it within her chest. She was definitely alive. So the question, nagging at the back of her brain was, who was she?

She wasn't Bel because she couldn't be, right? Bel was gone. She looked down at her hands as if trying to see something she had missed.

Mabel shook her head. She didn't have time to think about this. It felt important that she knew who she was. But one problem at a time. The first problem, new clothing that would fit her. She stopped as her path split at the bottom of the stairs, one way led towards Abby's room and the other… the other up to her room.

Plan B. With quick steps Mabel dashed up the stairs to the attic. There was something she needed for her crazy plan, a single item that had to be here. Without even pausing she flung the door open to find her shared room on the other side. It looked just like she remembered it from all the previous visits.

She lingered for only a moment at the door and noticed that Bel's half of the room remained unchanged. That was just what she was hoping for. She hurried to the closet and flung it open. Frantically, she searched through the hanging clothing before she realized these were Mason's belongings.

There was a moment of panic that he had indeed gotten rid of her stuff. Their parents after all had waited only a week to start boxing up Dipper's things. Then she realized that Bel had her own closet on the other side of the room. That made sense. It had been a storage area in the time Mabel had been there, in her world. But it had since been converted into a walk-in closet.

And what a walk in it was. Packed with sweaters and shoes and shirts and dresses and WOW, WOW, WOW!

"No! Focus, Mabel!" she said, giving herself a slap on the cheek. Her eyes moved across the hanging garments. She found it! It was here, it was - she yanked the fuchsia colored garment out of place but discovered it was a dress, not a sweater. She frowned.

She continued searching but the one she needed the most was absent. She searched the drawers, after all, she had a special place for her sweater. But no, it wasn't there either.

She stood panting in the center of the closet. The once well organized storage space was now a tumbled mess upon the floor. It wasn't here. So much for plan B. She just had to hope the other two ideas had more success.

She hurried back downstairs and nearly sprinted towards Abby's room. She found it just a few doors down. Melody's daughter had taken over their Great Uncle's study. It was the room that Mabel and Dipper had once fought over. The room with the carpet that had switched around their bodies. The room where Ford had revealed the terrible truth to her about everything. And she had chosen to only believe some of it.

Of course, all of the room's original contents were gone - including that stupid carpet. She glanced around at the posters hanging on the walls for bands she had never heard of (wait, was that one a vintage _Sev'ral Timez_ poster?), shows she had never seen (and that one looked like a reboot of the ducktective series, now with a female duck lead) and movie posters (OH WOW! _High School Boy SingSong Twelve: The Music Never Ends It Goes On and On and…)_. The room was a slight mess, which reminded her of her brother.

It was a cool room, the kind of room she might have. In fact, a lot of it reminded her of her own room back in California. There hadn't been many videos of Abby on the phone but Bel had always spoken fondly of her. And that one time she had been here, Dip - Mason, had said they were like family to her. Cool. That was pretty cool.

If things really went sideways and she had to go with crazy plan C maybe she would get to spend some time with the girl. Maybe they could even be friends. That would be neat, hanging out with Soos's daughter, it would be like having a sister. Dipper had never made a great sister.

She reached the small closet and started searching it for what she needed. Abby's clothing was just about her size. She couldn't do the math in her head but they had to be close to the same age. It didn't take her long to find things she liked. She picked out a simple blue undershirt. Abby did have a couple sweaters but Mabel was still holding out hope for finding Bel's shooting star. She also grabbed a pair of fashionable purple shorts. She would have preferred a skirt but some days required shorts.

The only shoes that appeared to be in the closet were some well used hiking boots, not her usual attire but there wasn't much choice. And finally some plain white socks and underwear. Abby owned a lot of glittery underwear and Mabel sure did like sparkly things. But wearing someone else's clothing was already strange enough. Again, her brain helpfully reminded her she had been doing that every time she had come here.

Fully dressed in clothing that wasn't too loose and not too tight, Mabel headed back towards the door. She had one last glance around the room when something she had missed caught her eye. She changed direction and moved towards the nightstand beside the bed.

It was actually, two things. The first thing was a framed picture of Abby, Mason and Bel. Mabel picked the picture frame up to get a better look at it, her brow furled with worry. They… they looked like a family. The twins hugging the little girl between them. They looked like a mom, a dad… a daughter. And… and, this girl… she looked almost exactly like Mabel did right now.

Melody and Soos had named their child after her but Mabel had never expected the girl to look so much like her! The resemblance was almost uncanny. She even had braces and was wearing a pink sweater with an eight pointed, rainbow-colored, star on its front. And why weren't Melody or Soos in this picture?

Tiny alarm bells were buzzing in her brain. She felt an incredible urge to just put the thing down and hurry back to her brother like she had never seen it. The clock was ticking and she didn't have a lot of time to just stand around. The world literally wasn't going to wait for her. Mabel felt her hand half move to put the picture back.

NO! This was important. Something here was important. The buzzing stopped and her eyes shifted to the other thing on the nightstand.

Still holding the family photo in one hand her fingers brushed the cover of a maroon journal that had been left beside it. There was a gold foil, eight pointed star, and the number 1 on the front. Her fingers trembled as she touched the edge.

Abby had shown her this book before. The little girl, she had been seven(?) at the time. She had wanted Mabel and 'uncle' Dipper to go on an adventure with her. Dipper had told her no and Mabel had forgotten about it.

 _Don't open it! Don't look!_

She flipped it open. Inside, on the first page was a simple line of printed text. The first part looked professionally done, as if it were printed onto the page by a machine, but the second part was in the hand of a young child. The letters had all been done in lavender color and there were hearts and stars and stickers all around it. The inscription read:

 _Property of: Abigail Mabel Pines_

Mabel took a step back from the book. What the heck? WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL!

She stood there in shock, her brain reeling, her mind flipping over. Why… why did Abby - Soos and Melody's daughter - have her last name?

Mabel's eyes flicked back to the picture clutched tightly in her other hand. Her eyes locked on the smiling, laughing faces staring at her from behind the glass. She felt her whole body tense as her brain prepared her for the realization it was about to unleash. She felt her head shaking back and forth, not wanting to accept what she already knew was the truth.

She snatched the journal off the nightstand and almost sprinted back to her brother's lab. She wouldn't believe it, she was wrong. This was impossible this - she skidded to a stop in the doorway, panting and out of breath from the short run.

Mason was setting up the ladder she had asked for, he had his back to her. She had almost forgotten about why she had wanted it, about everything else that was going on.

"MASON!" she shouted. She hadn't meant to shout, it had just come out that way. He jumped slightly and turned to look at her.

"Oh hey, I wasn't sure where you wanted me to..." began Mason but he trailed off as he saw what she was holding. She watched his eyes widen slightly. "Oh crap..."

"I think there may be something you and Bel might have forgotten to tell me about," said Mabel. Mason tilted his head. "Or lied to me about. What the heck is this?" She shook the picture furiously at him.

"Bel? Wow, that's a way better name," Mason said. Mabel let out a an 'ahem!'of irritation, shaking the items at him again.

"Why does Soos and Melody's daughter look exactly like me?" asked Mabel, taking several steps forward. Her boots clunked angrily on the wood floor until they were silenced by the carpet. Her voice was unnaturally high and she thought she had done a good job of saying actual words instead of just screeching at him. "Why does this journal say her last name is Pines! Dipper! What the who-ha-heck is going on?!"

"Do we really have time for - " Mason began. Her eyes widened dangerously and she took another step towards him, her arms shaking the two items at him in frustration. Mason took an involuntary step backwards in fear, then looked away, ashamed. "She's our daughter." The journal and picture frame slipped from her hands. Thankfully, Mason was fast enough and he managed to catch the picture before it hit the floor. The journal bounced harmlessly on the carpet.

"I'm sorry, she's our - WHAT!" shouted Mabel, feeling numb all over.

"Our daughter," Mason repeated. "You, Mabel… when she - before our first year of college, I might have accidentally - well, you know. Knocked her up." Mabel shook her head in disbelief at what she was hearing. Then she remembered the videos. The pregnancy scare and the negative test results. Bel had said… Bel had lied to her.

No. No Bel had wanted to tell her. She even might have told her but that was the year Mabel had also smashed Bel's phone and all those videos had been lost.

"You never told me!" cried Mabel angrily. "No worse! You lied to me! Why in the rainbow-sprinkled-cupcakes did you not tell me?!"

"It's compli - "

"Oh, don't you play that card with me bro-jerk," she punched him in the arm. "Ain't nothin more complicated than this whole mess going on right now, okay?" She held out her arms and waved them to indicate the crazy situation going on around them.

"Right…" muttered Mason, rubbing his arm and calming himself down, "that's a good point. Okay, look. Your phone is only so safe, we couldn't risk someone finding out the truth. It would destroy her life."

"She doesn't even know she's our daughter?" cried Mabel in shock.

"She knows she's _your_ daughter," said Mason. "I mean, my Mabel. Bel? Abby just thinks I'm her uncle. Everyone thinks I'm her uncle. Uh, I mean, I am, technically. But she doesn't know I'm also her dad, no one does… Except Ford… nothing slipped past him. But everyone else knows she's your daughter. That would have been a little hard to hide."

"Except from me," muttered Mabel.

"Yeah," said Mason, rubbing his neck uncomfortably. "Me and Mabel both agreed it was too much for you to find out you had a daughter that you could only see once a year. Especially when we realized you couldn't keep coming back forever. Eventually, you would lose her." Mabel didn't know how to feel about losing a daughter she never knew, how would that feel? Because right now, it felt pretty terrible.

"Mabel, uh, Bel, she wanted to tell you, she even did once! But when you broke her phone she lost the videos… and I sort of convinced her not to tell you again." Mabel frowned but Mason continued.

"Look, as far as everyone else, we just told them the father ran off and you decided to keep the baby. You couldn't give her up. Which, I mean, that part was true. You - she couldn't give her up. It was your idea - I mean, you know what I mean. Her idea to lie about the father. There was no way anyone could know the truth about that. Or anything about our relationship, obviously.

"And we got to raise our daughter together. I just got to be an uncle instead of her dad," Mason shrugged, but he looked more than a little hurt.

"And where is she right now?" asked Mabel.

"In California with grand - with mom and dad," said Mason. "She's been going there for summer ever since… After you - after Mabel passed away." There was so much more Mabel wanted to ask, wanted to know about her secret daughter. A daughter that was the same age as her. But… there wasn't time for that. Her eyes drifted back up to the ceiling.

Plan A was a no go. Not because it wouldn't work - well, it probably wouldn't have worked anyhow - but because she couldn't do it. Not now that she new the truth about Abby. She couldn't drag him back to her world. He would hate her. She would hate herself.

That just left her with the other two crazy ideas. One of them needed a little extra help that she hadn't found yet and the other - she narrowed her eyes as she searched the sweater ceiling - the other was just in reach above her.

"Dipper, I mean, Mason," said Mabel seriously, her eyes still locked on the sweater ceiling. "Do you know where my shooting star sweater is?" Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Mason frown.

"It was cremated with Bel," said Mason. "It meant so much to her, I couldn't have kept it without her." Mabel nodded. So much for Plan B. She hadn't known what to do with it anyhow.

"We aren't done talking about this," said Mabel. "But later. Move the ladder over here, closer to the side of the room." Mason looked relieved for the change in focus and moved the ladder to where she was pointing, right next to the wall.

"What are you hoping to find here?" asked Mason in confusion as she started to climb.

"A way out," she said as she reached the top. Mason let out a gasp as she stood just below the very top of the ladder, which clearly announced that it was not a step. She was probably going to have to use it as a step though.

"How - How are you doing that!" cried Mason from below. She looked down at him.

"How am I doing what?" she asked, but he didn't respond. "Mason?" Still he didn't answer, he just looked at her in confusion. She took a few steps down.

"You just - you moved through the ceiling like some kind of ghost!" cried Mason. She looked up. There wasn't a ceiling above her, there was just a swirling mass of sweater - OH, he couldn't see it. She lifted her hand.

"Do you see my hand going through the ceiling?" asked Mabel. Mason nodded. "It isn't a ceiling for me." A strange thought occurred to her and she smiled. "It's like that wall! The edge of sweater town that you could walk through, it's the same for me." Mason frowned, clearly trying to remember what she was talking about, then his eyes lit up.

"Wait, sweater town is here too?" he asked. She nodded.

"Yeah, it's not just outside, it's inside. I can never get away from it," she explained. "But that might actually work out for us. She climbed back up the ladder. "If I can find what I'm looking for here maybe we - "

"I can't hear you!" called Mason. She sighed. Alright, well, she could talk to him afterwards about it. She glanced around the edges of the room. Where the top of the wall ended into sweater town must be the ceiling for Mason, which meant from her knees up she must appear to be submerged inside the ceiling. And apparently he couldn't hear her.

She needed to see if this would work. Outside, the sweater stretched away in every direction. It towered up high into the sky, so high that it reached above the clouds, if there had been any clouds. She could never reach the neck hole outside.

Mabel glanced around taking in the strange sight. The four walls of the room all ended at the same height, the place where the ceiling must be. Beyond them was just a flat darkness, not the other rooms of the house. It was as if only this one room existed and nothing beyond it was real. Far off in the distance was the great inner dome of sweater town.

When she had been down on the floor looking up the sweater had seemed smaller. But now that she was up above the ceiling it was just as massive as outside. She moved up to the last, not-really-a-step, step. The ladder wobbled slightly beneath her feet. Still, maybe she could just reached out and - she moved her hand towards the fabric but she couldn't reach it. She leaned further over, her arm fully outstretched. It seemed so close and yet -

The ladder toppled sideways as she overextended her reach beyond the wall. She let out a yelp of surprise as she began to fall. She slammed into the top of the wall and her arms reflexively wrapped over the top, holding onto it. There was nothing under her feet and her body dangled in what must have seemed to be a very strange way to her brother.

"I got you Mabel," cried Mason. Mabel felt him grab her feet and put his shoulders under her boots. She felt the pinching weight come off her arms as he lifted her. "Are you okay up there?"

"YES!" Mabel shouted back.

"I still can't hear you," said Mason. "How about tap me with your left foot if everything is okay, right foot if you're not and I'll pull you out." She gently lifted her left foot and put it back down. "Alright, if anything goes wrong, just let me know."

Stabilized once more, Mabel stretched forward as far as she could. Her arm reached out towards the distant fabric but while it had looked so close from below, now that she was dangling from the impossible wall she could see it was not close at all. It was just as far away here as it was outside. Her eyes finally looked down over the wall she was hanging from and into the infinite, impossible darkness below.

It was hard to look away. She could feel it, deep down inside her. That darkness, it was true nothingness. She watched threads tumble down into it and vanish, forever. She tapped Mason with her right foot and felt him instantly move and adjust his position to lower her down.

It was not elegant or comfortable but she pushed herself off the top of the wall and half toppled back to the ground, Mason only just managing to keep her from outright falling.

"What - what happened?" asked Mason, panting slightly with the effort of having held her up for so long. "What did you see?" She shook her head, not wanting to think about that horrible darkness.

"Not what I was hoping for," said Mabel. Well, there went plan C. Poop-baskets, she was completely out of ideas on what to do next.

"I have to say, I've seen some really strange things but that… okay, actually, it's not even in my top ten… or top twenty… still it was pretty weird," said Mason. "So, what were you trying to do anyhow?"

"Every time I come back, my sweater has gotten more and more… messed up," Finished Mabel lamely, not finding the right word for it. Mason nodded. "There are all these rips and tears in it. I think - I think that maybe if I go through one of those rips… well, I don't know what'll happen exactly. I've never been able to leave this world under my own power before, it just sort of happens - "

"At midnight," injected Mason. "Mostly."

"Yeah, so, I thought, maybe, if I can reach the edge of sweater town, I don't know... I might be able to go through a gap or something?" she said with a shrug. "Then I can reach the world outside."

"What?" he asked.

"When sweater town comes apart I won't be inside it and maybe… maybe I would stay here," she said.

"Mabel… why… why would you want that?" he asked.

"Because I can't go back without you," said Mabel. She looked away and muttered, "And I can't take you with me." Mason frowned. "So, maybe I can stay here and… I know I'm not Bel but at least you would sort of have your sister back..." She couldn't read his expression. He just looked at her with a sort of sadness in his eyes. "And I would have my brother back…

"But it won't work," she said, shaking her head. "It thought the sweater would be smaller here, but, it's just the same size. It's just an illusion that the room makes it smaller. The neck hole, the edges, they are all miles and miles away, there's no way I can reach them!" Mabel shook her head in defeat, every one of her plans had failed so far. How the heck did Dipper do it, making plans was so hard!

"No way you can reach them in here," said Mason to himself.

"What?" she asked, not following.

"You said you see the sweater inside and out, right?" Mason asked, she nodded. "So, do they match inside and out?" She looked at him in confusion, then shrugged.

"Maybe?" she admitted. "Do you remember that time we went on like day long hike out to the middle of nowhere for you? Well, I was trying to head for a rip I saw from the inside, but, with the trees in the way it was harder to see outside. I don't know if we got off track or if it doesn't match up."

"That was at least ten miles away," he muttered, with a nod. He turned and looked around the room for something. "It's already well past noon so there's no way we could walk to it but maybe… hold on."

He moved to one of his walls and yanked a map off it. Pins and string and notes and photos cascaded down onto the floor as he pulled it free. He came back over to her with the map and spread it out on the floor. He shuffled it around, before finally spinning it over.

"Right," said Mason. He tapped his finger on a red dot. "That's the Mystery Shack. And from how far we traveled last time and as you've described it, it sounds like it's centered around here." He pushed a pin into the red dot and knotted a piece of string around the pin. Holding the string tight he took a pen and drew a huge circle on the map around the red dot.

"That's a ten-ish, mile boundary," he said. "Everything in that circle is inside of sweater town." She glanced at it, still not following. "You said you tried to head for a rip last time, where's it at?" She shrugged. "Which direction, point to it."

She pointed and he matched up her pointing along the map. He ran the string out in the direction she was pointing then he marked an 'X' where the two lines crossed.

"And you're sure it's going to be in the same direction?"

"The inside and outside have always matched before," she said.

"There's an access road we can take," he said. He was sliding his finger along the map, tracing the route. "It won't get us all the way but we would be within a mile or so and it will be much faster than walking."

"Alright," she said. She looked up again, her eyes swept across the many rips and gashes in her sweater world. There might not even be time to drive out but she didn't have a lot of other options. She knelt down and picked up the fallen journal with the star on it. "Let's go."

* * *

Mason drove, Mabel being far too young and too small to see over the dashboard. The last vehicle they had owned was a van. She remembered images of it on Mason's phone. This car was a Geep, a very inexpensive off-road, four-wheel-drive, vehicle. It had originally been designed for the military and later adapted into a civilian car. It also, as Mason mentioned, had belong to Bel. Hence, why it was pink.

They sped down the narrow streets, trees flying past on either side, sweater looming ominously in the distance ahead. Mabel continued to watch the threads rain down like tube shaped snow from above.

"So, Abby," said Mabel as casually as she could as they drove. She noticed Mason's grip tense on the wheel as she said it. "What's she like?"

"Smart, funny, she has your creativity and my drive for the supernatural," said Mason. "We used to take her on some of our adventures but… when I shifted my focus to getting you back a lot of that stopped.

"She goes out and has her own adventures," he continued. His eyes fell on the journal that Mabel had brought along. "You made that journal with her when she was five. After you - after Bel passed away, she made another one, she said that book was only for the two of you and that without her mom she would never change any part of it. I guess a little bit like the videos that Bel left for you.

"Your passing hit her pretty hard," Mason's voice broke as he talked. "It hit everyone pretty hard. I mean, we knew it was coming but there wasn't anything we could do. I worked on trying to find a cure but… I mean, whole companies with a lot more time and resources have been working on finding the magic cure for cancer for decades.

"We got lucky though, in some ways. This kind of brain cancer usually has some horrible side effects other than being fatal. But Bel never suffered any of them. I was convinced you were holding it back. When you were here, she was just like her old self. That's why I was so excited to see you.

"Anyhow. After I lost Bel, things just weren't the same between me and Abby. We hardly talk anymore. She's always out of the house or locked up in her room. And I guess I wasn't a lot better, hiding in my lab, working on trying to get my sister back. Every time I saw Abby, she just reminded me of the sister I lost."

They fell into silence and Mason wiped at his eyes.

"And how did we get along?" asked Mabel, clutching the journal in her hands. She hadn't opened it again. "Bel and Abby I mean."

"Great," said Mason with a genuine smile. "She made Bel so happy. There are a bunch of videos of you two doing stuff together... or there should be." Mabel frowned. She had hardly seen anything with Abby in them, just a few of when she had been very young. "They might be in a different folder. Remember that all those videos Bel made were just for you. The stuff with Abby was for everyone."

They turned off the main street and onto a dirt road. Mason had to reduce speed and it was a lot more bumpy. There wasn't a lot of talking to be done with the added noise. She had intended to read some entries from her daughter's journal but just looking down was making her feel car sick.

"I think you two would have really gotten along," continued Mason, speaking loudly to be heard over the added noise of the dirt road. "Heck, you're the same age as her. You even look like her." Mabel didn't answer, she didn't know what to say to that. Her very brief interactions with Abby had given her almost no insight about the girl.

She wanted to talk some more, to learn more about the daughter she didn't know anything about. Plus, it felt so good to be able to talk again! But Mason slowed down and pulled to a stop.

"This is it, the end of the road." Mason parked the car off to one side. There was still clearly more road ahead of them. She gave him a confused look. "I mean, this is the point closest to where we need to go." She smiled at him and nodded.

They got out of the Geep. Mabel debated about taking the journal with her but decided to leave it in the car instead. It was important to Abby and if this didn't work, she didn't want it to vanish into nothingness. Mabel felt a shudder go down her spine. She wished she hadn't had that last thought.

Mason spread the map across the hood. He tapped it with a finger.

"We aren't far now, maybe five or six minutes on foot," he said. He adjusted something around the edge of his watch. He noticed her looking at him and he smiled. "Also has a built in compass." He held up the watch for her to see. It was the same one she had seen him wearing for years and years now but she had never been able to ask about.

"I always see you with that thing," said Mabel. He smiled sadly.

"You got them for us," he said, she raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, originally, on our fourteenth birthday, you got us a pair of adventure watches! And a few months later you lost yours. But I kept mine. Come on, it's this way."

Mason led them off into the forest. She could see the sweater wall getting closer whenever she looked up. Now she just had to hope they were actually heading to the right spot. It turned out that her brother was right on all accounts. It was a very short walk and they arrived right at the tear in the hem.

Mabel had hoped that with the rip, she would be able to see beyond the wall. However, that was not the case. There was a rip here and there was golden light pouring out of it but there didn't seem to be another side.

"I - I can see it," whispered Mason. Mabel felt a jolt of surprise. He moved towards the tear and stopped well short of it. "Like a faint glow in the air." He reached out a hand and touched it. With a yelp he quickly pulled his arm back and shook it. "My fingers are numb." He wiggled his hand, trying to get sensation to return. She walked up beside him.

"Can you see what's beyond it?" she asked. Her eyes swept across the sweater wall. It stretched high into the sky and off into the distance on either side.

"Yeah," said Mason. "It's just more forest ahead of us, but right here," he held up his hands towards the glowing rip, pointing at its edges, "I can see like a faint triangle of light and just left and right a transparent, something… Are you really going to go through it?"

"Yes," said Mabel with a determined nod that she hoped gave the impression of her being way more confident than she was. "If I just wait here, I think I'll lose everything. That I'll lose you. This might be my only chance to stay."

She moved towards the tear, standing just feet from the rip in reality so that Mason was behind her. This was it, she was going to do this. No turning back now. Because she knew that if she did she would grab her brother with all her might and never let him go. She would just hold onto him until the end.

"Mason," said Mabel. "I don't know what's going to happen to me. Bill gave me the power to come here but he never told me how it works, or how to use it." She hugged herself. "Even if I made all this happen, it all just sort of happened. I never meant to…" She hugged herself tighter. "I don't want to lose you again!" She felt his hand rest on her shoulder and she almost - ALMOST- turned to hug him. But then she never would have let him go.

"I know," whispered Mason, his grip tightening slightly. "I don't want to lose you either." She put her hand on his, giving his fingers a squeeze. She was afraid that once he released her, she would lose him. The world trembled under her feet and she could sense the end coming. If she was going to go, she had to go now. She released his hand and he let go of her shoulder.

"See you on the other side," Mabel whispered.

She moved towards the gap, feeling it's warm light radiating over her body. This was it. Her last moments in sweater town. She walked towards the shining light, stopping just inches in front of it. She put her hands against it and felt the warmth beyond. Right. Right, she was doing this…

she was…

she...


	15. Chapter 15 - The Crossroads

Sweater Town

Chapter 15 – The Crossroads

By Starwin

* * *

Mabel felt warmth spread out through her body as she tumbled forward into the light. She could feel the world untangle from her. The strangest sensation she had ever felt tingled all over her skin. It felt like she was made of dozens of threads that were all unraveling. It felt, like she was coming apart. Just like her sweater.

Her eyes weren't doing a lot better than her body. It didn't matter where she looked, every direction was the same. All she could see was endless, blinding, light. At first she had thought it was golden light but now it seemed almost, but not quite, white. She blinked and that oddly seemed to help. Well, not help. Everything was still blind endless nothingness. It was just a little less bright.

She raised a hand in front of her face but she didn't seem to have a hand... or she couldn't see it? Mabel wiggled her fingers and, well, she wasn't sure. Her hand was odd in a way she simply couldn't explain. There but not there. Attached but remote.

"Mabel!" cried a voice from the light. Mabel's eyes flicked towards the sound and for the briefest glimpse of a instant she saw the rough outline of her brother's face in the light. She couldn't have seen it correctly because he had looked younger than she remembered him.

"Mabel!" shouted a slightly different voice but still her brother's.

It had come from the opposite side. She turned her head? Maybe? It wasn't exactly like turning her head, she couldn't describe it. Movement felt weird here, unnatural. She wasn't moving. It was more like… like she stayed still and everything rearranged itself? No, that still wasn't right.

Her eyes fixed on the source of the sound and she caught the briefest glimpse of Dipper. There he was again. The faintest outline as if made from threads of white light against a white background. However, just as quickly as he had come into existence, the vision washed away. Much like waves wiping clean a sketch in the sand on a beach.

What the heck!

Mabel tried to focus her mind. She needed to come to grips with what was going on around her. She couldn't. She simply couldn't rationalize anything she was seeing. That was saying a lot because her imagination had made some pretty strange stuff for her over the years. This wasn't sweater town. It wasn't like any dream or fantasy she had ever experienced before. Because despite how it appeared to be empty white nothingness, it was anything but. She knew it was filled with things, she just didn't know what to make of those things. So, they stayed in the white, at the edge of her senses.

"MABEL!" something about that shout drew her full attention to it. She tried to focus on it. As she did, the light came into sharper focus. It was not a single faint outline of her brother but a dozen of them, one right after another flicking into existence as the previous one faded away.

These weren't simply images she was conjuring up. They were emotions and memories. Each Dipper that appeared filled her with moments of other lives. She remembered things that had never happened. Yet, when the image of her brother faded, so too did her attachment. It was as if each vision was a fleeting dream, in which she knew everything about it while she saw it, then nothing about it once it was gone.

She… she was going crazy. Her brain had finally broken. Was this what madness felt like? Yep, this had to be what it felt like. She had lost her marbles. Mabel's marbles were gone. She had let herself slip away too far. Now all that was left was insanity...

Mabel curled herself up or at least she hoped that's what she was doing. It wasn't enough that she had lost her brother twice. She had also lost a daughter she had never known in a world she had only caught glimpses of. She had lost everything…

"Dipper," she whimpered.

"MABEL! Mabel. Mabel? Mabel! MABEL? MABEL."

Hundreds of voices echoed through the light, from an infinite number of directions. Her eyes swept across the void as her brain tried to come to grips with what she was seeing. It was more Dipper's than she had ever seen before. After all, most of her life there had just been the one of him. They were all different ages, in all different places. She waved a hand towards them trying to touch them. As her hand (she assumed it was her hand, she couldn't actually see it) passed through them, each image unraveled as if made of loose threads.

Yep. Crazy. She was crazy. This was all crazy.

And if she was going crazy she might as well make the most of it. It was _her_ crazy after all. She had been creeping ever closer to it for a while now. She thought of her brother again, trying to picture his face. He had always been there to bring her back from the brink of cuckoo town. Maybe that's where she was, crazy town, population her.

...Maybe he still might bring her back?

As she imagined him, Dipper's face began to draw itself in front of her. It was just a rough outline, like an uncolored picture. Mabel smiled at him and he smiled back.

"Mabel?" the face asked. She could feel how happy he was to see her, to see she was okay. The reality was just starting to pour into her. There had been a something chasing them and Dipper had fought it and...

She reached out and touched his outline. For the first time, she could see her own hand. It looked weird too. Just like the face she was uncolored lines as well. As the tips of her fingers brushed her brother's face, she could almost feel something there for a moment before he twisted apart. He untangled back into nothing and as he went, the moments of the memory faded too.

She lifted her limb to discover that fingers, palm, wrist and arm had indeed returned to her. They just looked a little funny. To ensure it was her hand she brought it to her face and gave it a lick. Yep. That was her hand. Okay, well, at least she had - oh, her other arm was back too, that was good.

Hands and arms returned she focused on what else she could do. Legs maybe? Did she have those? She looked down. Yep. There was her body, still the same funny outline without color, but she had a body and legs and feet for sure. It was her's for sure… most likely. She just didn't know if it was the right one. She was missing something, but she didn't know what.

Okay. So. If she imagined hard enough maybe she could make images and memories of her brother. She wondered if she could make other things. She tried to think of something else but she just kept drawing a blank. She couldn't even remember what her own face looked like.

Dipper it was then. She tried to recall her happiest memories of him. One-by-one threads began to flow out of the light, tangling themselves together in an elaborate dance. The threads became the ground, the trees, the sky, the people… Dipper.

Before long she found herself within a memory made real. It wasn't like recalling it in her head. She wasn't just passively watching them or remembering them, she was there. Emotions flowed through her, filling her up in a rush.

She and Dipper were riding bikes together, engaged in a race to the end of the street, the loser was a poop-face. Her bike sped out from under her, unraveling as it left Mabel behind. The threads twisted and respun as a different memory wove itself into existence around her. She started to run as she chased her brother with a water balloon. Dipper screamed like a little girl and Mabel nailed him in the back of the head with a _sploosh_.

Faster and faster the changes came. The threads of light spun and whirled as she slipped from one moment into the next. Some she didn't recognize. They weren't memories because they couldn't be. They were things that had never happened. She and Dipper were fighting off a giant two headed rat, but she felt much older than thirteen. And then they were sitting on the couch, curled under the same blanket. And then a moment of them dancing.

Mabel felt sadness wash over her. As it did, her direction in this directionless place changed. The threads that had been spinning into existence unfurled back into the light. Unwanted images began to tangle around her as new thoughts and dark emotions flowed through her head.

She saw Dipper staying in Gravity Falls to become Ford's apprentice while she returned to California alone. She watched her life race by as she went to high school then college without her twin at her side. Dipper faded away. She watched a whole life unfold before her where their paths parted forever.

Mabel shoved the - the things aside and they untangled back into threads of light. The thoughts that had come with the world drained away until she was just herself again. She was finally starting to feel an inkling of what it was she had just experienced.

These… these were sweater towns. Other sweater towns. They were the other worlds she might have gone to, other lives she might have lived. Some were filled with joy and others with sadness.

She was in a place between sweater worlds, a sweater limbo as it were. She had also discovered a very tiny amount of control over it. Control that was focused only towards her and Dipper. It seemed like she could jump to any moment, in any world, in any possibility that could ever be. She just had to find it. Or make it. Or whatever it was that she was doing with it.

Hundreds of moments raced through her mind. As she thought of each it spun into the air around her. She saw entire lifetimes spiral out like superfractals, filling her vision and mind completely with their existence. There were an infinite number of moments and realities to choose from.

It was too much! Blindly her hands swept them away. Yet as she touched them she could feel that same strange sensation as when she had first touched the tear in her sweater. It felt like if she pushed hard enough into any of them, she would slip through and become a real part of them. She would enter a new sweater town, become another Mabel.

She pulled her hands back. No. Not again. She didn't want to do that ever again. She just wanted her brother back. She just wanted Dipper.

A whole world spun out before her, trees, grass, a sidewalk, a street and her brother, smiling at her as he walked backwards, trying to cheer her up.

"-promise me you'll look up once in awhile," Dipper was saying to her. "The smiling thing is optional, but I think it looks good on you." It felt so real and yet oddly dreamlike. Color and sensation had flowed back into her but it was muted.

Her brain caught up with the memory she was reliving. No. Not this moment. Why had she picked this moment? She tried to stop herself. She tried to change it. Wait, no… It was different, reversed. Dipper was trying to cheer her up? That wasn't how it had happened… was it?

"I promise I -" answered Mabel's voice without her. Then she saw it, the gray SUV speeding towards them that her brother could not see. Her eyes widened and - "DIPPER!" she shouted. She dove into him, her eyes closed and her hands slamming against his chest, pushing him clear. As they fell she expected the car to smash into her. But she just kept falling.

She opened her eyes but found her arms empty and the world absent. She was back in the light and her brother was gone, again.

"Mabel?" asked a weak voice from above and behind her. She turned herself over, or, something like it. Already the color had begun to drain from the outlines above her, slowly fading back into the world of white. She felt her heart crumble in her chest. "Mabel." She watched her brother stagger down the road towards the heap of a person that lay ahead of him. "Mabel. Mabel. Mabel. Mabel. Mabel. Mabel. Mabel. Mabel." he chanted over and over as he limped towards her. "MABEL!" he screamed as he tumbled down beside her. "MABEL! MA - "

She moved her hand through the image and it pulled free into threads of light. The moment vanished.

All she ever did was make things worse. She just made everything worse!

What was even the point? All these worlds at her fingertips but whichever one she picked all she could do was bring them ruin.

She continued to fall… maybe? Was it falling in a place with no up or down? She didn't know. Or care really. It seemed to be her fate that she was lost with no way to escape. Was she doomed to witness these universes or fantasies or memories or whatever these were, over and over, forever. Unable to change them.

As if she had summoned it, because, she probably had, the moment began to replay once more. She felt herself slide into her body again. Yet this world was different than any before. It was more solid, more colorful. Still not right, but closer to being right.

"I could," Mabel heard herself say as her body spun on its heel and she started walking backwards so she could see her brother's bashful, grinning, face. _No, not again. Please not again._ "But only if you… if you..." her voice trailed off and she came to an abrupt stop. Dipper bumped into her, not expecting the sudden halt in motion.

"If I - whoa!" shouted Dipper. He pulled her towards him into a tight a hug. An instant later a green SUV barreled through the stop sign feet from them. Its tires screeched as the driver seemed to realize what they had done. However, instead of stopping, they sped up again and drove off. "Man, that idiot almost hit us."

Mabel closed her eyes and pressed her head against his chest. _Holy-cheese-and-maple-syrup!_ She had done it! She had changed it. She had saved them both!

"Are you okay, Mabel?" asked her brother. She nodded, but something felt off about it. "Mabel?"

She opened her eyes to find the loose threads drifting out of her arms. She was back in the empty white world. _OH YOU HAVE TO BE FUCKING KIDDING!_ Back here, again? What was it going to take!

If she could have grabbed her hair and pulled it out, she would have. Maybe she could if she tried. This was so frustrating. She didn't get it, what was she supposed to do?

"Supposed to do?" asked a voice that shouldn't exist. She turned her head very slightly. A swirling mass tangled itself into existence. The first thing that formed was a gold star. Threads spun out to form a fuchsia colored sweater and then a person in that sweater. The person waved at her. "Hello!" It was another Mabel, an older Mabel. "You're not supposed to do anything, May." No, not _a_ Mabel it was...

"Bel?" asked Mabel in confusion. Her voice felt a little odd, like she was only sort of speaking with it. Maybe she was thinking it? Right, she was crazy.

"I knew you'd come up with a a cute name for me," said Bel with a nod. "And you're not crazy," said Bel. "Well, okay, maybe a little bit. We both are, if I'm being honest. This is probably all pretty crazy."

"That's possibly the biggest understatement of all time," said Mabel flatly.

"Yeah, I guess it sorta is," said Bel with a shrug. A thousand thoughts and emotions blinked around Bel like tiny little christmas lights. Mabel had no idea what they were.

"And I thought it was weird before but now I'm talking to myself and you're blinking with colors, so, I don't even know how to classify this…" said Mabel.

"Maybe I can help you out?" said Bel with a mischievous smile. "Those lights are my thoughts. We aren't exactly tangible here, more like ideas or emotions? We can speak," _but we can also think._ "Here, we aren't our bodies, we're our minds and we can look how we like and be how we want.

"For example," Bel kicked her legs. "My legs work here, although, there isn't really ground to walk on… but if there was, I could totally walk on it. I even got my favorite sweater, see?" Bel tugged on her shooting star sweater.

"You can looked however you want here. And you can, uh, can be naked if that's what you wanted," commented Bel with a smile that was trying to hold back a laugh.

Mabel looked down and realized what had been odd about her body. She let out a yelp of embarrassment and covered her naked form. Bel continued to giggle.

"Mind powers, just think yourself up some clothes," said Bel. Mabel did and she felt clothing wrap around her, along with undergarments and socks and shoes. Even her headband snapped into place. "I love your headband!" Bel showed off a blue headband, exactly the same as Mabel's.

Mabel looked at her now clothed body and frowned. They were the same clothes she had been wearing in sweater town, before she had stepped into the gap in the universe. These were Abby's clothes. Blue shirt, purple shorts and worn boots. Where was her shooting star sweater? She tried to imagine herself wearing it but she couldn't.

"Hey, don't try too hard, it takes time to get used to stuff here," said Bel. "You'll get it when you're ready."

"How long did it take you to get your sweater?" asked Mabel. Bel shrugged.

"Oh, I started with it," said Bel. Mabel frowned. "Anyhow, I bet you have some questions, I know I did. And unlike you, I wasn't lucky enough to have someone here to answer them. I can see you want to ask, so, ask."

"Where are we?" asked Mabel.

"That was the first thing I wanted to know too," said Bel with a smile and a nod. "I guess knowing where you are is kinda like the first question a lot of people have when they end up in a place where they don't know where they are. But, I mean, you do know _where_ this is. This is the sweater!"

Mabel opened her mouth to clarify but Bel was already ahead of her.

"What I think you really wanted to know is _what_ this is. Honestly, I don't know what this place is," admitted Bel. "I don't think it's a dream, at least not how you're imagining it. And it certainly isn't an afterlife or anything. Not enough puppies." Mabel nodded in agreement. This place was certainly lacking in the puppy department. "As near as I can tell this is sort of like an in-between place, a space separating other worlds, other universes maybe? Definitely other sweater towns."

"That's what I was thinking it might be," whispered Mabel half to herself.

"Yeah, well, that's because you're me. And we're smart," said Bel with a nod. "Welcome to the sweater crossroads!"

"I was thinking the sweater limbo," said Mabel. Bel smiled.

"Oh, that's pretty good too! I mean, I don't actually know what it's called,but that's as good a name as any?" said Bel thoughtfully, more to herself. Mabel shrugged. "Right. So, you might have seen some crazy stuff so far." Mabel nodded. Again, understatement. "And it takes a little getting used to. I've just got a bit more time with it."

"A bit?" asked Mabel wearly.

"Like, maybe five years or something?" she said with a shrug. "Not exactly any clocks floating around in here or anything. I've been here ever since I died. Well, I mean, since a year after I died… I think… Again, time is sort of uneven in this place."

"Wait! I'm dead?" exclaimed Mabel. Hot fudge, it all made sense now. She was dead.

"No, no, no… your not... probably not," said Bel with another shrug. "I watched you fall in through a tear in reality and you looked pretty alive then, just like you do now." Mabel tilted her head.

"You were watching me?" asked Mabel in complete confusion.

"Maybe I should start from the beginning?" said Bel, a tone of uncertainty in her voice. "I said I think I figured some stuff out. I mean, there's never been another me, or anyone else for that matter, here, before. So, no one has ever really explain anything to me. And this place didn't exactly come with an instruction manual." Mabel nodded, she was just thinking that. "Okay, here we go, you ready?" Nod. "This is going to make your brain hurt. I know it makes mine hurt.

"Right, so the start," began Bel. "I sort of… you know. Died. And I thought that was kinda the end of it, because, you know, death is kinda the end and all. But it wasn't, at least for me. I was gone. Poof. Into nothing. Then when you came back to sweater town, so did I. I was there with you when you were eating ice cream with our bro-bro. I was there when you unlocked my phone... I mean, 'kittie' as my password, really, that was your first guess? We haven't used that in years! I deliberately picked Dipper as my password because we thought that would be all you could type!"

That… that actually made a lot of sense. It was just too bad her brain had betrayed her again and let her type whatever she wanted instead of her brother's name. She remembered the video that had changed everything for her. Nope. Nope it was good she had gotten the wrong password! Stupid brain for figuring it out in the end!

"I was trying to direct you to the right folder," interjected Bel. Mabel could feel her other self looking at her thoughts. Mabel waved a hand above her head trying to shoo them away. "You know, the one labeled specifically for 'Other Mabel,' which, you didn't click on." Mabel felt herself blush, could she even blush here?

"What do you mean you were there?" asked Mabel, trying to redirect the conversation away from the phone.

"It felt like… like I was a part of you," explained Bel. There were emotions and thoughts flashing all around her that Mabel could feel too. "I wasn't trapped inside you or spying through your eyes, it was as if - "

"You were me," whispered Mabel, understanding how Bel had felt. Bel nodded. She had just experienced something very similar to what Bel was describing. Those glimpses into other worlds. She had been there, she had felt it, but she couldn't control it, she could just watch.

"Yeah, like that," said Bel. "Like it was me but it was us! I couldn't control anything but I didn't want to. Well, no, okay, I was trying to help you look in the right places. But like, I didn't want to take over your body or anything. Sorry, that came out wrong, what I meant - "

"I get it," said Mabel with a sad smile. "I'm sorry I was doing that to you all these years." Bel shrugged but the emotions above her head were mixed unreadable uncertainty. Clearly, Bel didn't know how to feel about this whole thing either.

"Anyhow," continued Bel. "When you left, I just kinda stayed behind. I drifted around without a body. I'm not really sure why or how but I did. At first, I thought I was like a ghost or something. And, I guess I sort of am? I tried using sock puppets to communicate, but that didn't work. I couldn't interact with anything and no one could hear or see me. I didn't need to eat or drink or go to the bathroom or sleep.

"At first it was really hard to watch Mason and Abby go on without me but at least I got to watch. I waited for you to come back to be in your body, to hold Abby in my arms or kiss Mason. I just wanted to have one more moment to be with them again. But as time went on and you didn't come back, the world started to become less real to me. I began to drift in and out of it and into this place.

"I thought I was just going to vanish, like I had before. However, once I was here I began to discover things, like you've been doing since you arrived. I found that I could look in on other worlds or travel to different sweater towns. But I could never stay in any of them. I was like a ghost, just passing through."

"But how?" asked Mabel. Bel seemed to have an answer to that as well. She tapped her forehead and for a very brief moment, Mabel could see the outline of a golden triangle. "Bill…"

"Gift or curse," said Bel. "Whatever this thing is, however it works, I think it let me be here… or… something. Again, no instructions. I've tried getting it to do what I want, but, short of slipping into woven images of other places, it hasn't listened.

"You're a big part of it too, when you came back this time, I was pulled back into your… our… I have no idea what to call it, body. I was there while you were fighting off Bill," Bel frowned and her thoughts seeme to explode out of her, one of which made Mabel look away in shame. _You did give me cancer._ "I mean, you couldn't have known… and… well, I guess, it went both ways.

"Anyhow, I think there's another part," continued Bel. "A reason I can't just pop back into existence in my world, or go to any other sweater town. I'm missing something. Something important."

"What?" asked Mabel, but she thought she already knew the answer.

"A sweater," said Bel.

"But you have a sweater!" Mabel pointed out. She tugged on her own blue shirt. She was the one currently missing a sweater.

"No, this, this isn't real," said Bel. "I just imagined it. We're just thoughts here." Mabel shook her head, she didn't feel like just a thought. "Maybe you aren't, but I am. Somehow your sweater is like a guided pathway into another world - "

"A woolhole," interjected Mabel.

"Yeah. It's like a string that ties you to other versions of yourself. Without that it's as if we're trying to dive into reflections on a lake or something. The sweater acts like a pathway through this place," Bel waved her arms around. "And pathways have three things. A start, an end and something they travel through. I mean, if it was a circular pathway it doesn't have a start or end… but I don't think - sorry, a lot of time talking to myself.

"The start of your path was your world and for some reason, the end of it was my world. Because you had that path, you could move freely between them."

That didn't seem exactly right but Mabel couldn't put her finger on it. It felt like Bel had missed something important. She didn't know what though and as her counterpart continued, she let the notion slip away.

"I mean, I'm mostly guessing here," continued Bel. "I've had a lot of time to ask myself questions and try and come up with answers. The biggest one is where we started. What is this in-between place?" She held her arms out to the white world around them."I think this place is just for us. Our connection to every sweater town we exist in, every moment of every world. Every second of every universe that could ever be."

"Okay, so…" said Mabel not following.

"So," said Bel. "Any world where you exist, you can look in on it. You can go anywhere, live in any moment, be a part of anything." Mabel felt her face fall. There was only one thing she wanted. "But all you want is Dipper back, right?" Mabel nodded.

"I tried, I really did," said Mabel. "But… but I can't stay in any of those worlds…" Bel nodded.

"Because there's no woolhole," said Bel. "There's no connection. You just see reflections, or moments, you aren't really going there… I've… I've tried that too... a lot. But without a sweater it's just not possible."

"So, what, we're just trapped here forever?" asked Mabel. "Reliving moments but unable to change anything. This is a nightmare!" Bel frowned.

"Or a blessing…" she said quietly. "I've been able to watch my daughter grow up… and my Mason…" She looked away. "I'm sorry, it's been a long time since I felt sad… I just sort of accepted this… I made myself believe I was a ghost, watching over them…"

"Bel," said Mabel quietly.

"Still a cute name," said Bel with an approving nod.

"Why… why Mason?" asked Mabel. For a moment Bel looked confused then her eyes widened. It was the same reaction Mabel had to a similar vague insinuation that Ford had made. Mabel watched as the realization swept over Bel. She understood what Mabel meant, even without seeing her thoughts floating in the air. "He's our brother and you two were, doing the thing you don't do with your brother! You had a daughter together! What the heck!" Bel tugged some of her hair into her mouth and chewed on it. When she didn't answer Mabel pressed her. "Well?"

"You - you saw the videos, right?" asked Bel. Mabel nodded. "I think the real reason it happened was you. I think every time you came you made me love him more. When your visits started I was just filled with so much emotion I felt like I was overflowing. It wasn't just for Mason, it was for like everything. You have no idea how much sugar I ate after every visit.

"And my stupid body didn't help, it completely turned against me!" complained Bel, her eyes fixed on Mabel. "Besides, I like feeling good. I know we love feeling good. It's like our real mission in life. To find stuff that makes us feel amazing! We love hugging. We love kissing. We love cuddling. And we love having sex with -"

"Nope! Nope! Nope! I'm not listening! I can't hear you! LA-LA-LA-LA!" shouted Mabel covering her ears.

"WE LOVE HAVING SEX WITH OUR BROTHER BECAUSE IT IS AMAZING!" shouted Bel at the top of her lungs. "He was safe and comforting and everything we've ever wanted in someone that cares about us! Because he cares about us! He really, truly, with all his heart, cares about us!"

"But he's our brother!" cried Mabel.

"So what, May?! He loves us. He loves us more than anyone else in the world ever could!" said Bel shaking her head. "You don't understand. How could you, you've only seen moments of him, glimpses. You didn't grow up with him at your side keeping you safe all your life. You haven't experienced the things I have. And you didn't have another, unbelievably desperate mind in your head longing uncontrollably for just one more moment with her twin."

Mabel didn't have anything to say to that. Bel was right, Mabel didn't have any idea what it had been like for Bel. They floated in silence for a long while.

"So, what now?" asked Mabel. "Do we just float around arguing for all eternity and watching worlds we can't ever be a part of?" Bel shrugged at her. "Mason's right, that's really annoying." Bel laughed and some of the tension between them slipped away.

"Well, again, I don't know," she said. "I don't have all the answers. You have a way home if you want to take it." Below Bel, lines began to draw themselves into existence and a whole world emerged. It was like looking through a very detailed TV screen or a window into another universe.

Standing alone, out in the forest, feet from the unraveling woolen wall, was Mason. The Mason she must have left behind hours ago, yet he hadn't moved. How long had it been… there weren't any floating clocks here so it was hard to tell.

And there was still the sweater sky above, slowly unraveling.

"Your connection is still open," said Bel. "I bet that if you went back into sweater town you could maybe still return to your world… instead of being stuck here."

"How did you do that?"

"Do what?" Bel asked. "You already figured out how to look into other sweater towns."

"No, how did you find your sweater town?"

"Oh, I mean, it took me a while," said Bel. "There are a lot like it." She spread her hands out and the image of Mason standing alone in the woods multiplied an uncountable number of times. However the sweater wall was only in that one image. It was absent from every other version. Additionally, something else was also different in each one. The color was not right or Mason wasn't even there. In many of them his clothing was not the same. In one of them, there were two other people standing with him. Bel noticed Mabel looking at that one.

"I like this one too," said Bel, moving it forefront and the letting the others dissolve. "In this sweater town I didn't pass away. I don't linger on what could have been too long… It's not really mine." It flittered away and Mason, standing alone before the sweater wall, returned. "The big give away is the sweater, none of the other's have it. But really, I can just sort of feel it. You'll probably know it too when you see yours. It's more colorful, more solid." Mabel nodded.

Everywhere she had been so far had felt off to her. She hadn't been able to put it into words until now. But it had been the color. The color was always wrong in the other sweater towns she had jumped into. Like the world was half painted or muted.

Mabel focused her thoughts on her world, her sweater town. It came surprisingly easy to her. A moment later color and shape swirled into existence. Mabel could see herself huddled alone in the forest, tucked inside a sweater.

"Huh," said Bel looking over her shoulder. "There you are. It's always easier to find yourself, we're like a beacon. Mason too. Maybe it's a twin thing or something? Other people are way harder. I can almost never see Abby when she isn't near Mason. And a world where you don't exist, forget it. Not even possible."

Mabel, frowned. Okay, so, her body was still in her world, still wrapped in a sweater… assuming any of this was really happening and she wasn't just having a complete mental breakdown right now. That left the lingering question. Who the heck's body was she inside of in sweater town? Because it couldn't be Bel's.

No, wait, there was something odd about her now that she was looking properly. Mabel realized what it was and let out a gasp of surprise. She wasn't in her sweater. Or, if she was, her body was completely transparent or something because she could see down through the neck hole and into sweater town. It was a birds eye view, high, high above, looking down on the tiny town below and the forest surrounding it.

"Whoa, that's kinda freaky," said Bel, apparently also seeing what Mabel was.

Mabel felt her thoughts flashback to when Ford had told her about the end of the world… and her brother's affection for her. As she remembered it, the window into her world bent and altered. She was rewatching that past moment of her curled up on the couch, trying to escape from what she had just been told. Mabel was looking into an infinite spiral of sweater towns. Down one neck hole of her pink sweater and into the neck hole of her orange sweater, alternating forever into an incomprehensible distant dot.

"Ouch! Shut it off! That makes my brain hurt!" cried Bel, waving at the image. Mabel let the window into her reality close and the infinite sweater loop ended.

"These sweater towns," said Mabel. "They… they travel through time, right?"

"Maybe? Sort of? I mean, I don't know how it works," said Bel with a shrug.

"Have you ever wanted to go back and change something?" asked Mabel quietly.

"Uh, duh! Of course I have!" cried Bel. "There are so many things I wish I could do over! Like - oh, you were being rhetorical, weren't you?" Mabel nodded half heartedly. "Look, like I said, I don't know how all this stuff works. I've just got guesses from the time I've spent with it. So, I mean, maybe it's possible? But… honestly, I don't think so."

"Why not?" asked Mabel.

"Because it happened," said Bel. Mabel frowned. "I mean, it all happened, every possible way you think it could have happened has happened. Look. I'll show you." Bel held out her hand and a window into the past spun into existence before them. Mabel felt a shiver run down her body. Bel apparently knew what Mabel wanted to change.

She watched the worst moment of her life replay before her eyes. She listened to the banter between her and Dipper. She almost closed her eyes as Dipper pushed his sister out of the way and the car slammed into him. Worst of all she could feel all of it, like a fresh wound opening up inside her and spilling out into her mind.

The Mabel in the little window staggered towards her motionless brother, his name echoing from her mouth. She collapsed beside him, clutching his lifeless body in her arms and sobbing into him.

Why was Bel making her watch this again. She didn't need to see this again. She never wanted to remember… Dipper's eyes opened as the past Mabel held him. He - he was alive. Her brother was alive! Bel had done it! She had fixed the past! She - one glance at Bel told Mabel she was completely wrong about what she was seeing.

"That's my reality," whispered Bel. _Oh_. "Dipper was badly hurt but he survived." Bel did a strange little twirl with her hand and a second, smaller window opened into yet another world. A world that Mabel instantly knew was her own, where she did indeed clutch her dead brother to her chest.

"There are countless other outcomes," explained Bel, her other hand twirled and a long chain of glimpses into other possible worlds spiraled out from Bel's window. At first, Mabel thought they were all the same, Dipper had unfairly survived in each of them. However, she noticed that the further away from her window each new one was, the more fine Dipper was. In the very last one both he and Mabel dodged the oncoming SUV completely, tumbling out of its path altogether.

"That's not fair," said Mabel. "I'm the only one that lost my brother? Every other version of me got to keep him?"

"Oh, no, no," said Bel. She let the other realities fade away as she returned focus to the two, side-by-side. Bel's world, where Dipper had lived and Mabel's world, where he had not. "These two are the closest together, there isn't anything between them. If I had to guess, and, I do, because I have to. I think that's the reason you came to my world, it is the path of least resistance, the shortest distance, the world closest to your own where Dipper survived. The spiral goes the other way too but - "

Mabel felt her hands moving before she had even considered what she was doing. Just like Bel had done, Mabel opened the reality spiral in the opposite direction. A nightmare spun into existence before her. A million billion trillion universes in which her brother died in each. Halfway through the spiral of infinite other deaths, the alternate versions of Dipper weren't able to push her completely clear of the SUV. It began to hit her too.

Worse, Mabel could feel it. Not the full force but a reasonating after-sense of the impact. She had forgotten they weren't just windows or images, they were thoughts and feelings, emotions and senses. She could feel the emotional distress of every reality where Dipper died. She experienced the pain of all the worlds where the SUV struck her as well.

Finally the infinite spiral concluded with the universe in which she hadn't dodged the SUV at all. There was nothing after that one, because those were the realities where she no longer existed.

Bel waved a hand and all of the windows into the other sweater worlds poofed out of existence. The memories and feelings of the worlds had vanished with them.

Bel looked like she was about to hug Mabel but seemed to think better of it at the last second. She just hugged herself instead. That was too bad, Mabel could really have done with a hug right now. But something told her that physical contact with Bel in a place like this might lead to some unintended results. She didn't know what, it was just a feeling afterall, but it felt… dangerous, like she might lose herself.

"Sorry," said Bel. "I… I should have warned you." Mabel shook her head. "You probably can't change the past, because, it is changed, it all happened. Anything you do would just be one of these other sweater worlds, not your own world."

"So you really can't change the past…" said Mabel.

"No idea," answered Bel with a shrug. Okay, that _really_ was getting annoying now. "I've never been able to change anything in any sweater town. But it's not like I can interact with them, ghost, remember? I think Ford wrote about it once, that he couldn't change the past…

"May," said Bel softly after a long moment of silence. "I… I tried not to look but I can still see some of your thoughts…"

"Uh, could you not do that?" asked Mabel.

"Sorry, it… it just kinda happens," said Bel, looking away, _feeling ashamed._ Great, now Mabel was doing it too. "See, it's hard not to!" Mabel smiled weakly but Bel looked almost frightened as she continued. "Mason… you aren't… you're not going to try and take him… with you? Are you?"

It was Mabel's turn to feel ashamed.

"I was," admitted Mabel. "That was Plan A. It's what I came here to do. To try and bring him back with me…" Bel looked horrified. "But I won't, Bel, I promise that I won't. It was selfish for me to even think I could do that. To take him from you or from Abby." Bel looked slightly relieved, although her thoughts said otherwise.

"You're… you're going to try and stay here, aren't you?" asked Bel. Mabel didn't answer for a long moment. _Bel could see her thoughts_ , "I can, sorry," _she was probably seeing the mixed up uncertainty tumbling around inside her_. "Yes, I am." _Mabel didn't know what she wanted to do._

Sweater town was so different from her own. Dip - Mason, was here but he was so much older now. When they had been the same physical age, at least in appearance, things had been fine… well, not fine but less strange. If she did manage to stay, she would be thirteen. And how would they explain her sudden appearance to anyone? Would she have to keep going to school?

"School's what you're worried about?" asked Bel with a half smile.

"BLARGH! I'm worried about everything!" cried Mabel out loud. "Staying, going, it's a mess on both ends! But at least… at least here..." She looked at Bel who didn't need to see what she was thinking, to know what she was thinking.

"I don't know if it'll work," said Bel as she floated sideways.

Mabel followed her and found, much to her surprise, a very familiar triangular rip in the world of white. She couldn't see anything through it except golden light. It was the tear she had come in through. Bel shook her head.

"No, it's the other side of the tear, we're in the sweater right now, remember?" She nodded past Mabel. Mabel looked over her shoulder to see a very similar rip. Through it she could see the shadowy form of her brother standing just beyond it.

"Wait? I haven't moved?" asked Mabel in confusion, remembering the falling and tumbling. Bel shrugged. "Not helpful," mutter Mabel.

"So now you're at a crossroads, May," said Bel. "Which life do you want?"

* * *

 _Note from the Author:  
_

 _Final chapter(s) next week! We are almost at the conclusion of this insane story! Next week will be the two part ending and epilogue posted Fri, Sat and Sun!_


	16. Chapter 16 - The Outside

Sweater Town

Chapter 16 – The Outside

By Starwin

* * *

Mabel knew what she wanted to do. She wanted to stay, to be here with her brother. The only way to do that was to be outside of sweater town. She moved toward the rip that would take her out. Yet, as she drifted she felt a strange tug pulling her in the other direction. It wasn't strong enough to stop her but it made her feel weird, like she had left something of herself behind.

"No, you've got it wrong, Bel," Mabel heard her voice say. She hadn't said those words, yet, she had. It was just not her that had said it. She glanced over her shoulder and was surprised to see... herself. Not older or younger. Not a shadow from another world. But her. Another her.

Stranger still, that other her was looking back over her shoulder too, as if she was the reflection. Mabel didn't miss the questioning gaze in the eyes of this other self. It was the same feeling she was having too. She didn't understand. She knew who she was seeing but not how or why.

The only difference between them as far as Mabel could see was that her other self was drifting back into sweater town.

Before she could make any sense of it, Mabel crashed into the edge of the world. Blazing light flooded over her eyes. She felt weight return to her body and a tingling sensation across her skin.

She stumbled forward, her feet finding uneven ground with every step. All she could see was a blinding white that was brighter and more intense than the place she had just been. She stopped and blinked and that seemed to help. Blob like shapes were coming into focus around her.

She could see browns and greens and blues. Something wiggled in front of her face, oh, those were her arms. She blinked again and the world came into sharper focus around her. She was in a forest. Her eyes moved upwards and she gazed upon the empty blue sky. The sun hung lazily off to the side, drifting down towards the end of the day. She looked left, then right. She was alone. She looked down… and wished she hadn't.

She was still her younger self - still herself, she guessed - but that wasn't the problem. Her sweater was gone. The real sky above her, no one around, her lack of sweater… it all meant one thing, it could only mean one thing. She was home… and sweater town was gone... Dipper was gone.

She felt tears starting down her face. She was alone. Forever now.

* * *

Mason watched as his sister press her palms against the golden rip in the air. He could barely see the gap in reality wavering before him but he could see it. In truth, he could see a lot more than the triangular rip. He could also see translucent strands of the thread-wall which was more visible closer to the tear. It was as if the light that poured through was illuminating something unseen.

May pressed harder and abruptly tumbled forward into the light with a yelp. In an instant she was gone. He stood there, having no idea what he was supposed to do now or next. Was he just supposed to wait? Should he walk through the almost invisible fabric to the other side? When sweater town came down was he just going to poof out of existence?

His eyes swept up the wall. There were many spots of golden light spread across the sky, each one making patches of sweater town visible to him. It was as if the sky was full of holes, holes that were quickly growing larger.

So this was it then. The end of the world. Was he about to vanish into nothing? He was pretty sure he was going to be fine. Well, as fine as anyone who had lost their sister for a second time could be. It hadn't really sunk in yet. This all felt like a nightmare that he longed to wake from.

A massive thread tumbled out of the sky. He took a step back and it missed him by inches. Although he wasn't sure if he'd had to step out of the way. It was transparent, just like the rest of the wall. And instead of landing on the ground it passed through it like a ghost.

Not for the first time he wondered what it really was. He had, after all, spent a lot of time thinking it over. The best he had come up with was a pocket of four dimensional space-time protruding into his three dimensional reality. What he was seeing was like a shadow of it.

Or, heck, maybe the whole thing was just magic. For as much science as he had learned over the years from Ford there had always been just as much unexplained weirdness. Like science it all worked on rules too, things you could predict and understand to some degree. Unlike science however the "how" of what magic did was inherently unknowable.

He watched as one of the largest rips grew even bigger until at last, the wall failed. All at once every thread seemed to come undone and the sky opened into white light. Mason had to shield his eyes as the whole world unraveled above him.

He looked back towards the gap only feet from him, the one that May had vanished into. For one insane moment, he thought about diving through and chasing after her. But the moment passed. The threads on either side pulled apart and the hole in reality evaporated away.

Except, something had been left behind. No, not a something, a someone! A young girl dressed in a light blue shirt and purple skirt. She had her back to him, her brown hair fluttering in the wind.

"Abby?" cried Mason in alarm. No, that was impossible. He shook his head as the girl turned towards him. For a moment they had looked so similar and he had forgotten the impossible. "Mabel…?" he asked, his throat dry. She smiled and rushed to hug him around his middle.

For a long moment he didn't react. He didn't know what to do. He had watched the sweater wall collapse and he had watched his sister vanish into it. Yet, here she was, hugging him tightly. Now a little more tightly.

"You're not happy to see me... are you?" asked May in a whisper. Mason realized he must have waited too long. He returned the hug somewhat awkwardly.

"Sorry, you - you just surprised me," he said. "I thought… I thought you were gone…"

"I thought so too bro-bro," said May. "I thought I had gone home and that I had lost you… forever this time…"

"Mabel," Mason asked. "What happened?" She blew a raspberry and lifted her shoulders in a shrug, she was still hugging him. "Please, no more of that." He rubbed the side of his face in frustration.

"Yeah, I guess it can get a little annoying," said May with a giggle. It almost made his heart break to hear that laugh. "As for what happened..." she trailed off into silence and looked away. Mason felt her hug him tighter, a sure sign that she was thinking about how to answer his question, without answering it.

"If you don't want to talk about it - " Mason began, trying to give her an out.

"I met Bel," said May flatly. It took his brain a long moment to process that.

"Wait, you what?" asked Mason, panicked uncertainty like he hadn't felt in years erupted in his brain. "Bel, as in my Bel?" She nodded. Mason finally wriggled free of her hug so that he could squat down in front of her and be eye level with her. "Mabel, what happened? What did she say?"

She shrugged again, wrapping her arms around her body.

"I don't know," said May after a long moment. "Look, I don't think I'm ready to talk about it just yet, okay?" It wasn't okay. She had talked to his sister, his dead sister. The one that he loved, that he missed so much it hurt and she wouldn't tell him?

"It's okay, when you're ready," said Mason, using all his strength to keep his voice steady. The small smile of appreciation that she gave him told Mason he had done a good job not showing his real feelings on the subject. "How are you still here? Sweater town's gone." He waved his hands up at the sky.

"Again, I don't know," said May. "I was some place really strange, like a world between worlds or something. Even stranger, when I left, there were two of me, going in opposite directions."

"Bel?" whispered Mason hopefully, but May was already shaking her head.

"No, it wasn't Bel. It was me, another me," said May, frowning. "Like, it was my reflection or something? I think I'm still here because I came out the other side. So, I wasn't in sweater town when it came apart. But that other me..." she trailed off again. May suddenly looked down at her hands and abruptly stepped back. Her wide eyes searched across the ground as if seeing something. "What the heck?" she exclaimed. "What's hoo-ha this!"

Mason followed her gaze. She was staring at the rough uneven dirt only a foot or so away from where he was. It just looked like normal ground to him. May however was still fixated on the ground, entranced by something only she could see. He had sort of gotten used to that, both from his sister and from May. One had a hyperactive imagination (okay, both did) and the other actually could see things he could not. But sweater town was gone, wasn't it, so what was she seeing?

"Mabel, what is it?" Mason asked when she didn't elaborate. May blinked and looked confused.

"I don't know… I was thinking about the other me and… and I think I saw her… I think I saw us," whispered May.

"Us?"

"Another us, different us-es," she said with a nod. May waved the hand not clenched against her chest through the air. "They're gone." She looked up into the sky and Mason followed her gaze into the empty blue. "It's just the sky above me now. My sweater's gone."

Something else clicked in his brain. No sweater. No woolhole.

"Wait," said Mason, as the sudden terrible realization came over him. "Mabel, are you saying you're here forever?" She shrugged but must have caught his expression.

"No idea, Dipper," said May. She frowned. "Sorry, Mason. That's going to take some getting used too. I guess a lot of things are going to take some getting used too." She looked at him with sad eyes. "You - you do want me here… right?" He didn't answer, instead he wrapped her up in a crushing hug. "I'll take that as a yes."

"Of course I do," said Mason, his voice cracking. "No matter how you look or where you're from, you're my sister."

"And you're my Hipity-Dipity-Doo!" said May, hugging him back.

"Don't call me that. That's an awful name," said Mason flatly pulling out of the hug. She giggled again. "But why would you want this? What about your life back home, your friends… our parents…" She looked away, he knew that expression. She didn't want to tell him her reason.

"Dipper," she said. "I mean, Mason - "

"If you want to stick with Dipper you can," said Mason. Just like she was always going to be May to him. She nodded.

"I couldn't go back, I couldn't be in a world without you, I just couldn't," said May. "And those other people are here too, just, different."

"Not all of them," said Mason sadly. "Mabel, I'm twenty years old than you. I have a daughter… you… you have a daughter that's the same age as you. Abby… how are we going to explain any of this to her? I mean, we can't hide it… right?"

"Of course not," said May with a frown and a shake of her head. "You know I'm a terrible liar anyhow." He nodded in agreement. Yeah, he had always found her complete inability to make believable lies somewhat adorable. For someone with so much imagination, it was hard to understand why she was so bad at it. "We just tell her the truth. Everyone else though, that might not be the best idea."

"No kidding," whispered Mason. "They would definitely think we're crazy."

"Well…" said May. "It actually might not be that hard to come up with something because I sort of already have. I mean, you already did."

Mason looked at her in confusion, _he_ had come up with something? He hardly understood what was happening right now and he had been here for it. There was no way he was thinking ahead. She rolled her eyes.

"Twins!" cried May in exasperation. Mason shook his head, yes, okay, they were twins but they really no longer looked anything alike. "No, Dipper, me and Abby! We look alike!"

"Oh," said Mason. The idea rolled over and he felt it click in his brain. That… that was actually maybe an okay idea. Afterall, they had found Grunkle Stan's twin, someone that almost no one knew existed. And people always just seemed to accept the long lost twin thing for some strange reason. "I guess that could work. But, I mean, people already know she was an only child." May waved a dismissive hand.

"Come on, evil twins are always showing up when you least expect it," said May.

"You're the evil twin?" asked Mason with a half smile. He had expected a laughing comment or a giggle or anything except for his sister to burst into tears. "Mabel!" he cried as she hugged him again, apologies spilling from her mouth.

"I'm sorry Dipper! I'm so sorry!" cried May.

"Mabel, it's okay, I was joking! You obviously aren't evil. You don't have a mustache or goatee!" cried Mason, trying to inject some humor that appeared to go unnoticed. May just shook her head.

"I am though," she whimpered. "Bel, it was… coming here, it was my fault what happened to her." Mason felt his body stiffen.

"What?" he asked softly but he already knew what she meant. He listened as she explained - half listened with a numb body and brain.

"I didn't travel here the right way," she said. "I didn't pull her out of her body first, I just took it over. And somehow - somehow that damaged her. I gave Bel cancer, Dipper! I did it to her! I - I killed her." She looked away, still sobbing. "I'm an idiot, why did I stay here! I'm a monster!" Mason stayed silent, not sure what to say. However, he was even more unnerved when she started to laugh. A slightly unhinged uneven choking laugh.

"But I guess I got what I deserved too, right," she tapped at the side of her head with a soft "boop" and it finally clicked for him. That thing Bill had said. Mason had asked her about it before but she had deflected the question.

"I have it too… a tumor, growin-in-my-brain… just like… like Bel," explained May. "I might have stayed here… but for how long? Now you just get to watch me die again. I'm sorry, Dipper." Mason shook his head and took a few steps to her before he hugged her again from behind.

"No," whispered Mason. "You couldn't have known what would happen. If you had, I'm sure you would've stop - "

"Would I?" interrupted May and her voice sounded unsure. She was really asking him because she clearly didn't know. The answer was firm in his brain though. He knew what his sister would do.

"I know you would've stopped," lied Mason. "I once asked you if you were here to hurt us, do you remember what you said?"

"I probably said 'Dipper' because that was all I could say," said May with a sniffle.

"Yeah, that's true. But you shook your head so hard your hairband fell out," said Mason. "I couldn't explain it but I trusted you then and I still do. You never wanted to hurt anyone."

"But I did," said May.

"You did," agreed Mason. He hugged her tighter. "Bel was sure you had given it to her," he continued and he felt her start to tremble in his arms. "She was mad at you for so long. However, even when you stopped coming here, it just kept growing. Every year, worse on the years you weren't here." He laughed softly. "She just needed to hold out for two more years, two more and she would have been fine."

"Fine?" asked May, her voice angry. She tried to struggle free of the hug but Mason held her. "How would she have been fine?"

"Because there's a cure for it," said Mason. "Not a treatment but a cure. I told you I searched for one, but I wasn't alone. One of the big companies had a breakthrough two years after Bel passed, now it's easily correctable."

"That's not fair," whimpered May. "That's not fair!" Her knees gave out and if he hadn't been holding her, she would have collapsed to the ground.

"I know," said Mason. "Life isn't fair. We just have to make the most of what we can. Hold on to the things that matter to us," he hugged her tighter, "and keep going. I've lost a lot along the way. But I've gained a lot as well. Come on, let's get you home and we can talk." He lifted her up in his arms and carried her back to the car.

She nuzzled her face into his chest as they walked. It took all his strength to keep walking as the emotions tumbled around inside him. He had gotten a sister back but not his sister. She had been the cause of Bel's problems yet she had also brought him such happiness. She was a person from the happiest time of his life brought forward into the now.

"Dipper!" cired May, causing him to tumble out of his thoughts. He came to a stop at her panicked cry. Her gaze was fixed on the car. He looked at the Geep but it was empty. She began to struggled. Mason let her down and she dashed to the car, her arms clutching around the empty air. After a long moment she released her hold on nothing and looked sadly at her hands. "Dipper…" she whispered sadly.

"Mabel, what is going on?" asked Mason. He was really starting to worry. Was she hallucinating? Should their next stop be a hospital instead of home?

"It was us," she said, not looking up at Mason. "Another us, just like before. I saw Dipper, my Dipper."

"How's that possible?" asked Mason. May shook her head.

"I saw something like this in - " she closed her mouth and shook her head. "Can we just go home?" Mason nodded.

They got back into the Geep, May taking the seat across from him. Mason started up the car and they made the short drive along the dirt road in near silence. May kept muttering to herself along the way, although, at least her tears had stopped. Mason felt the need to try and comfort her, to say something to make her feel better. But, honestly, he had no idea how to do that right now. It was a weird feeling not knowing what to say to his sister because he had always known how to make her feel better.

The problem was, he didn't know how to feel about her right now at all. She was his sister, from an alternate universe. She was functionally identical to the person she had been at the age of thirteen. However, she was also more than that. She was the person that had taken away his real sister, the person that had stolen days out of her life, the person that had replaced her.

His logical brain told him he should hate her. That anger was the only possible reaction he should be feeling right now. But he was pretty sure that wasn't what he felt. For all she had done, he could understand. After all, he had gone to any lengths to get his Mabel back. And he had failed.

Now she was here, sitting right beside him and shouldn't he feel something other than confused?

His eyes drifted onto her and he could see her chewing on her hair. That brought a smile to his face. Mabel had chewed her hair less and less over the years but she still did. It was one of the things he loved about her. Not the hair chewing specifically but how open she was with her feelings. He had always been closed off, walled up, towards everyone.

She had once confided in him that she loved that he could hide how he was feeling and wished she could too. Sometimes.

"A good flavor today?" asked Mason sparing a glance at her. They had just turned back onto the paved road that would take them home. Not for the first time, Mason lamented the fact that the car did not have selfdrive on it. He really wanted to give all his attention to the little girl beside him. There were no other cars on the road, so he felt somewhat okay taking his eyes off it to look at her.

May spit out the hair and shook her head, "Nope, just tastes like hair," she said. She glanced out the window. There was another long stretch of silence while Mason tried to think of how to bring up the topic he most wanted to discuss. But he couldn't find the right words.

"She isn't really gone," said May. "Bel, I mean." Mason's hands tightened on the steering wheel but he didn't say anything. He wanted her to continue. "She's watching over us, probably right now."

Mason felt himself relax. He also felt a pit of disappointment in his stomach. Oh, she hadn't meant literally. She was just repeating all that religious talk people loved to spout about departed loved ones. He didn't need to hear that. It didn't make him feel better.

"She might even be here with me now," continued May. "I don't know how to tell but she said it was easier to be here when I was. Are you here with me Bel?" Mason turned his head to stare at her. That had sounded way more specific (and slightly crazy) than just talking about being watched over by angels or something. May shrugged to herself. "I donno, maybe she is. I've never been able to really feel her here with me before but - "

"She was able to be there with you," said Mason in a whisper. May looked at him and nodded. "She told me about it, about the times you were here and she was able to sort of be there too. Like a waking dream. Are you saying that Bel is alive, that she's here with us right now?" May looked away again and shook her head.

"No, Dip, I - I'm sorry, I shouldn't have," said May, continuing to shake her head. He reached out and touched her shoulder.

"Please, tell me," he begged. She still didn't look at him.

"I went somewhere, when I touched that hole in the sweater," said May. "I don't know what it was. Maybe a sort of sweater crossroads or something, that's what Bel called it. From there we could look in on other worlds, other versions of our self and - " She stopped, seeming not to want to elaborate. "Anyhow, we couldn't be any other versions of us, we could just look in on them. And that's what Bel has been doing, looking in on you and Abby. She's not a ghost or a made up something, but her. I don't know what she was and she didn't know either.

"She thought that the thing Bill did to us might have kept like her mind or something alive. She can only watch but not interact. Maybe that's what I keep seeing, after images of other worlds?"

"The dreamscape," whispered Mason with a nod. May looked back at him.

"Wait, you know what it was?" asked May.

"Maybe? One of the things I've studied over the years when looking for - for a way to bring my sister back," he said. "You remember that first summer here, right?" May rolled her eyes. Right, obviously, it had just happened to her, although it was so distant for him. "And that sock opera you put on."

"He-he, yeah, that was fun. Gabe was a little creepy though," she muttered.

"You also probably remember Bill taking over my body," continued Mason.

"And I remember you as a sock puppet," interjected May.

"What you don't know was that I was stuck, in the dreamscape," said Mason. "Bill kicked me out of my body to take it over. But I was still there, floating around like a ghost. I was nothing more than my mind or spirit or whatever. I spent years trying to figure out what happened to me.

"We even had a previous encounter with it," continued Mason. "When we went into Grunkle Stan's mind. We were both without our bodies. Just our thoughts jumping into someone's dreams. And both times, Bill opened the way."

They pulled off the main road and onto the unpaved dirt that led back to the Mystery Shack. The car bumped along and both of them stayed quiet. Mason pulled into his usual spot by the back door and turned off the car. The two of them sat there silently.

Mason was lost inside his own head, trying to work out how he was feeling right now, how he should feel about the person sitting next to him. Who was she really to him? Not Bel that was for sure. He didn't feel the same way he did for Bel. May was a moment of his past, frozen in time. Not really a memory but not exactly the person he wanted her to be either.

A finger jabbed into his side and he heard May whisper "boop" as she poked him back into reality. At least she hadn't punched him in the arm or something.

"You've got that far off look in your eyes bro-bear," said May. "Still can't read your mind." Mason nodded, that was probably a good thing… wait, did Bill's power give her the ability to read his mind? Was she just pretending that she couldn't? Was she reading his thoughts - she poked him in the cheek.

"Ack, sorry," he said rubbing his cheek. "You can't read my mind though, right?" May rolled her eyes. "Right, just checking." He continued to rub his cheek, his thoughts still working over that last notion. He was trying to buy some time to -

"I'ma poke you in the eye if you don't stop being silent," threatened May, only half-joking as she held her finger up, pointed towards his eye.

"Alright, alright, no more poking," said Mason, holding up his hands and giving her his full attention.

"Well?" said May after a long moment when he didn't continue. 'Well what?' was what he wanted to say but he just gave her a blank stare of confusion instead. She let out a frustrated sigh. "Gah, you can be so thick sometimes! It's no wonder you weren't able to guess what was going on with me!"

"Hey, I worked it out!" complained Mason. "And secondly, how was I just supposed to stumble on to you being my sister from an alternate reality, that lost a different version of myself, so escaped into a made up fantasy world that turned out to be real, and took over the body of her counterpart in that other universe!"

"Pfft, that was like number two on my list," said May with a casual wave of her hand. "It's so obvious!"

"What part of that was obvious!" cried Mason in frustration. His frustration melted away into confusion. "Wait, what was number one?"

"We're both just crazy," said May with a nod.

"Yeah, I still haven't ruled out that possibility." The two of them were overcome with a fit a laughter and giggles. It was good to have his sister back, no matter the version.

* * *

They finally made their way inside, both still recovering from laughing. For Mason, he was just coming home. But for May, it must have been like coming home for the first time. She paused in the entryway looking around.

"Come on, we can chat in the kitchen," said Mason, motioning them towards the door to the kitchen. May moved towards it but halted abruptly at the door. She just stared into the empty room with its one lone card table. Mason had always meant to get a better table but Bel liked the little run down one they had. She said it reminded her of their Grunkle. May stared longingly at it too, did it remind her of something as well.

"I see them," whispered May. Mason's brow furled in confusion. "They're here, clearer than before, four of them, sitting around the table talking." Mason put a hand on her shoulder and for the briefest moment, he could see them too.

The air wavered and shimmered. In the four fold out chairs set around the table, there were four shadowy shapes that weren't exactly people. He couldn't make out any details of their faces or bodies but he could tell that one of them, the closest one, was looking at them. Mason pulled his hand back and they shimmered away.

"Who - what?" he asked in confusion. May just shook her head.

"Can - can we go somewhere else?" she said. Mason nodded, looking back into the empty kitchen. How was his sister so calm about this? Just that little glimpse of them had almost been enough to freak him out, yet she had been seeing them ever since she had come back. Maybe longer?

"Mabel, when did these things start showing up?" asked Mason. She shrugged. "Seriously, I'm not sure how much more shrugging I can take." She looked back and smiled at him then stuck out her tongue.

"It just started," said May. "That first time, near the edge of the sweater, was when I first saw it. They were just like shadows then. But each time I see them again they're more clear, more visible. I saw myself just now, looking back at me. I saw you looking confused… and… and I saw Dipper… and Bel…"

Mason came to an abrupt stop, just feet away from the couch.

"She's here?" he asked. He felt a thrill of excitement rush through him. May shook her head.

"No, it isn't us that I'm seeing, well, it _is_ us," said May. "It's just another us."

"This is making my brain hurt," complained Mason, flopping down onto the couch.

"You're telling me," said May.

They sat in silence again for a long while, occupying the comfy couch that Bel had picked out so many years ago. Each spot had a reclining seat. Mason had always taken the left seat, his whole life. He was the left twin after all, as Bel had so often reminded him.

That had changed of course over the past twenty years. Whenever Bel noticed them sticking to their sides she would mix it up, take his seat or sprawl herself across him. Declaring there was no left or right, only love and the power of love and the - uh, other things of love.

Of course they hadn't changed up their sleeping arrangement. She still slept in the bed on the right and he on the left. Or, at least that's what the outside observes were supposed to think. In actuality neither of them really had their own bed anymore. Both sides were fair game.

That would have to change. It wasn't Bel he was talking to right now even if she acted so similar. They hadn't talked sleeping arrangements yet. In truth, they had hardly talked about any plans for what they were going to do. Neither of them seemed ready just yet to talk about themselves or what the future now held for them.

So Mason spent the next few hours filling May in on everything that had happened through the years she had missed. Not about her life because she had gotten that from Bel. At least, most of it, as near as Mason could tell. He talked about the rest of the world. It had changed so much and she had always been trapped here every year with just the barest glimpse into what things were like.

Being thirteen, she showed little reaction to the current political climate. Nor did she really understand the new war that had started. In fact she didn't seem interested in any of the problems of the world at large, of which there were many, both new and continuing.

She was however excited to learn that _High School Boy SingSong Fifteen: To Sing Once Again_ , had come out, even if it had poor reviews. He talked about advancements in technology and science, although her eyes glazed over a bit as he got into the details.

"Do you still do the UsTube video things?" May interrupted as he was talking about the current climate crisis they were facing. The question caught him slightly off guard and reaffirmed that she hadn't been paying attention to what he was talking about.

"No," said Mason with a shake of his head. "After Bel passed, I just didn't want to keep doing that. They did make that animated show about us though, it was pretty good, but only two seasons long. It was sort of strange to watch a reimagined version of myself. I think they might have made me too nerdy though." May let out a sorting laugh. "What?"

"Too nerdy? I don't think that's possible bro!" cried May, trying and failing to hold back her giggles.

"Yes, ha ha, they made you pretty boy crazy too by the way," said Mason, "always chasing after the heartthrob of the week." May smiled at him and wiggled her eyebrows.

"So they got me right on then," she said. Mason opened his mouth to answer, about to say something that would have been both stupid and possibly uncomfortable. Luckily, his brain managed to think better of it and closed his jaw for him. "Uh, how right on did they get us?"

"I don't know what you mean," lied Mason, knowing exactly what she meant.

"Dipper," she muttered, narrowing her eyes.

"Fine, no, they didn't get that side of us, thankfully," he said. "Just a loving brother and his twin sister's sibling affection, alright!" He actually felt slightly embarrassed to say it. He looked away from the girl sitting next to him on the couch.

"Wait," said May. "You're the star? And my character is just like what, your sidekick?" That snapped Mason out of his embarrassment.

"What? No, we get equal screen time, I mean, _they_ get it! They're fictional characters, May!" said Mason. Her eyes widened slightly. "Okay, maybe the show is a bit more focused on the character based on me, but it's just based on me. It isn't me, or you. Besides, I didn't write the show, I just gave them the idea and - "

"You called me May," interrupted May. Mason froze, darn it, had he? "That's how you see me, isn't it? I'm just the other Mabel, aren't I?"

 _Darn it, darn it, darn it!_

"Yeah," said Mason. He wanted to look away from her but instead focused his eyes on her. She nodded after a long moment.

"Dip - Mason, you don't feel the same way about me as Bel, right?" asked May. The first answer that had jumped to his brain was 'NO!' followed by 'of course I do!' and finally rationalized into:

"I love you like my sister," said Mason. "The same way you love me." She smiled and then tackle hugged him, squeezing him so tight he thought she might break a rib. "Yes, like that. Air, Mabel, air!" She let him go and retreated back to her side of the couch.

They talked for several more hours until both of them started to yawn. Mason glanced down at his watch to see it was almost midnight. Almost midnight. Was she really going to be able to stay here this time? Her sweater had gone but would she remain?

"Guess it's time for bed," said May quietly. He had never been good at guessing what she was thinking but this time he knew for sure she was thinking the same thing as him. Would she still be here when they woke up tomorrow?

"Hey," said Mason. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure everything'll be fine." He held out his hand to her and she took it, giving him a squeeze as she did. "We'll face tomorrow together, alright?" She nodded.

They went upstairs together. They brushed their teeth together, May even challenging him to a toothbrush race, something they hadn't done for many years. As always though, she came out the victor. Spitting into the sink first and declaring her victory as toothbrush champion of the universe!

Mason let her have the room first to change, again something they hadn't needed to do for years. However, he was pretty sure she would feel less comfortable with him there. He sure as heck did. She was still his sister, the one he had fallen in love with but at the same time she wasn't. She was so much younger. The same age as their daughter.

It didn't take her long to change and when she was done she stepped outside to let Mason get ready for bed. However, before he could change his eyes found something else waiting for him, someone else already in their beds.

They weren't shadows this time, they were people. In her bed, he could see May and Dipper, both thirteen again, cuddled together under the blankets holding each other. And… and in his bed...

"Bel," Mason whispered. He walked over to it, seeing his own face beside his lost sister. They were like ghosts or after images. He reached out to touch her and as he did she looked at him and smiled sadly. Then she faded away and he was alone in the room once more. Was he going to be tormented with visions like this forever?

A knock at the door brought him back as May asked if he was done yet.

"Just a sec," he called before quickly changing into pajama pants and a shirt. Not his normal sleeping attire but being almost naked seemed like a poor choice at the moment.

Changed, he opened the door to let May back in. For a long moment they stood together looking over the room. Mason felt May grab his hand and squeeze it.

Wordlessly, they both went to their separate beds and got in. Mason checked his watch. There was only a few minutes to go until midnight but already his eyes felt heavy. He reached out and clicked out the lamb by his bed.

"Goodnight, Mabel," he said to the darkness. This had been something he had done all his life and still did, even if there hadn't been an answer for many years now.

"Goodnight, Dipper," his sister answered back. It was almost heartbreaking to hear. He didn't cry often but Mason felt himself starting to tear up as he heard her voice. He had his sister back.

* * *

Mason opened his eyes to the darkness of the room. He must have cried himself to sleep because he didn't remember drifting off. His tired eyes found the glowing letters of his alarm clock. 1:44 A.M.. His eyes slid off the clock and onto the bed across from him. The empty bed. He felt his face fall.

She hadn't been able to stay after all. They had worried and planned and it had all been for nothing because just like always, after midnight she -

Mason felt something shift very slightly beside him. He felt a small arm tighten around his torso. His eyes moved from the bed across the way to the person curled up next to him. She was here. She was still here.

He lay back down and put an arm around her. He really had his sister back.


	17. Chapter 17 - The Inside

Sweater Town

Chapter 17 – The Inside

By Starwin

* * *

Mabel knew what she wanted to do. She wanted to go back home, to her world. It wasn't Dipper waiting for her, it was Mason. The only way to get home was to be inside of sweater town. When it collapsed, she would return to her world, alone. She moved toward the rip that would take her inside. Yet, as she drifted towards it she felt a strange tug, pulling her in the other direction. It wasn't strong enough to stop her but it made her feel weird, like she had left something of herself behind.

She glanced over her shoulder and was surprised to see, herself. Not older or younger. Not a shadow from another world. But her. Another her.

"No, you've got it wrong, Bel," said Mabel, her eyes watching the other her float away.

There were two of her. (Three of her? Did Bel count as another her?) The second her heading out of sweater town. She didn't understand what she was seeing. It wasn't Bel because Bel was still floating (?) next to her.

The other her vanished into the tear that would take her… somewhere else. Now it was just Mabel and Bel once again.

"You aren't missing your sweater," said Mabel. Bel gave her a confused look and opened her mouth to protest, her thoughts flashing what she was about to ask. "You are missing a body. You talked about traveling a path - "

"That was an analogy - " interrupted Bel.

" - but you forgot the part that without a person to walk on it, there isn't a path," continued Mabel. Bel frowned. "You have the path, you have a sweater that will let you jump to other sweater towns but without a body, you can't use it."

"Okay, but, I mean even if that is true, and, I can see that you are guessing at all of this, by the way," said Bel, "so what? Oh, no, that's a horrible plan!" Mabel knew that Bel was seeing what she was working out in her head. Plan B was back on. "A horrible, terrible, crazy, insane plan!"

"Between the two of us, we have what we need," said Mabel, holding out her hand to Bel. "Come with me." Bel's eyes flicked to Mason standing just outside the edge of the rip and Mabel could see the flood of thoughts and emotions lighting up the air around her. Still, Bel didn't take her hand.

"What if this doesn't work," whispered Bel, looking away. "What if the moment I take your hand we blink out of existence. I know you feel it too, I can see it in your thoughts. We both know something is going to happen if we touch. We are both afraid of it. Like a gut feeling, like fire."

"We won't know unless we try," said Mabel.

"That's not a good enough reason," said Bel, and Mabel agreed with her.

"I want my brother back," whispered Mabel, her hand still outstretched. "The man out there isn't my Dipper, he's your Mason. I won't ever love him the way you do. And I could never take him from you. I'm sorry I ever did.

"I know you would risk everything just to hold him," continued Mabel, Bel's thoughts confirming her words as she said them. "That you would give up a life time of this place to just be near him again. And you know I would do anything to do the same, you can see it, Bel." Bel's eyes turned towards Mabel and she could almost feel her glancing through the thoughts that flickered above her head.

"That," whispered Bel. "is a much better reason." She reached out for Mabel's hand. "Let's do this crazy thing."

As their hands moved together Mabel felt - and she could see Bel felt the same - that unknowable fear well up within her. It took all her strength not to pull her hand away.

 _For Dipper,_ she thought.

 _For Mason,_ Bel thought.

Their hands touched and Mabel felt herself twist and tear. It was indescribable agony! She felt like her body was being pulled apart, atom by atom. However, in an instant the pain was gone as though it had never been. They felt strange.

Thoughts collided in their head as they realized that the other was gone. _Bel was gone. Mabel was gone._ Confusion tumbled over them. It was just the one of them now. The one of her? Why did it feel like two of her?

"May?" they asked. "Bel?" They lifted their hands, familiar yet strange. They looked down at the shooting star sweater they were wearing. "This… this is freaking me out." "Freaking us out," they corrected.

"What the heck is going on?" Bel asked. "We fused into one super Mabel!" cired May. The thought finally registering as it happened. "Sweater and body together at last!" "I'm not going to be the sweater!" protested Bel. "Pfft, of course you're not, you're the body silly! You've always been." They shook their head. Trying to come to grips with whatever they were now.

"This is really weird, right?" asked Bel. They nodded. "Yeah, and it's about to get a lot weirder," affirmed May. "Are we ready?" asked May. "No," said Bel, "Let's do this."

Together, sharing the same body and mind, they put their hands against the rip in reality and pushed themself back into sweater town.

* * *

Mabel tumbled out of the world of white, crashing into Mason as they did. He had knelt down to catch them in his arms. He was saying something but they had only heard part of it before they started kissing him. Abruptly they broke away, spitting and wiping their mouth.

"Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, gross!" cried May.

"Mabel," asked Mason in concern. "Are… of course, right, sorry." He let them go.

"No, Mason, it's okay. It's me. Strawberry Pancakes," said Bel. Mason broke down into sobs as he hugged and kissed their cheeks once again. May fended him off once more.

"Dipper! Stop it!" cried May. He froze.

"Wait, May?" he asked in confusion. "But I thought - "

"It's both of us," said Bel. "This feels super weird. And you have to be kidding me!" exclaimed Bel in horror, touching their mouth. "Braces! Again! This sucks! This is your body!"

"It's our body," corrected May. "And we have our sweater!" Looking down and touching their shooting star sweater.

"Mabel… what… what is going on?" asked Mason. He looked completely lost. "And where did you get that sweater?"

"I'll explain later, okay?" said Bel. "I mean, if there is a later. This might not even work."

"What might not - " began Mason but Mabel shot him a look that shut him up.

"It'll work," said May excitedly, then muttered, "It has to work." They untangled themself from their brother and started to sit down in the dirt.

As they sat, something strange caught their eyes. There were two other shapes standing there with Mason. They looked like dark outlines, shadows almost, against the sweater sky. For a strange moment, Mabel thought she could see herself and maybe another Mason… then the shadows were gone as if they had never been. They shook their head.

"I… I am really, really confused right now," said Mason.

"Yeah, us too," they whispered to herselves.

"Don't worry bro-di-do, we'll explain it to you when we get back," said May. "Most of it anyhow…"

"When, you… what?" asked Mason.

Mabel tucked their legs into their sweater. They smiled at the shooting star splashed across the front. Well, that made them feel a little better about this insane idea.

"We, uh, might need a bit of help coming back," said Mabel. "We probably don't want to hang around until midnight or whatever. Just be ready to pull us out, okay?"

"Again… I am really, really confused right now," repeated Mason but nodded all the same.

Mabel tucked in their arms, lowered their head and closed their eyes. They took a long deep breath together.

"Ready, Bel?" asked May. "Ready, May," Bel answered. They let the moment of Dipper's death flow through their shared thoughts. They felt the pain and anguish that May carried with her. They both lived through the horrible moment that had stolen away their sibling. They let themself slide into sweater town.

* * *

Looking up was really strange, to say the least. There was the neck hole of their shooting star sweater, high above. Through it, they could see the face of their concerned brother looking down. Above him, was the distant pink fabric of their shooting star sweater again, making up the sky of a another world. And through that sweater's neck hole was another sky, of still another world… or if everything went as they hoped, the same world they were in now.

They were going to sweater town… inside sweater town. May's sweater town.

Mabel felt their feet land softly on the sidewalk. Dipper was walking beside them, head down, steps slow and dejected. Mabel stopped skipping. Hot-belgian-waffles, they had done it! She was actually here!

"We're here," Mabel reminded herselves. Right, right, _they_ were here. The both of them. They could feel the two minds tumbling around in their head but working as one. She was Mabel. _They_ were Mabel.

"What?" asked Dipper, turning to look at his sister and only now noticing that she had stopped several feet behind him. "Mabel?"

"Dipper," said Mabel with a breathless nod. This was him. This was really him. Just how he was, how he was supposed to be.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Dipper," Mabel said again, stepping towards him, taking his hand. He looked extremely uncomfortable and a part of their brain remembered how much he disliked public displays of affection. More accurately, two different parts of their brain recalled him disliking it in two very different ways for two very different reasons. One was embarrassment and the other was keeping their secret.

"Mabel, you're acting weird, even for you. You alright?" asked Dipper. There was that concern they loved about him so much.

"We will be soon," said Mabel. They leapt forward and hugged him. They felt him tense uncomfortably at the sudden contact.

"Mabel! Whatever you're doing you better hurry up!" shouted Mason. Mabel looked up to see their other, older, brother looking down through the hole in the sweater sky. Yeah, okay, that… that made their brain hurt.

"Dipper, do you trust me?" asked Mabel, whispering in his ear as they held him. He still hadn't returned the hug and was currently trying to wiggle free. Dipper stopped struggling.

"Of course," said Dipper.

"Hug me," said Mabel. He paused for only a moment, then he returned the embrace. Mabel felt his warm, slightly awkward body against their own. Both parts of their brain agreed that this moment was perfect.

The screeching of tires cut through the air and Dipper almost pulled out of their grasp. A cream colored SUV skidded through the intersection before racing off. Mabel and Dipper and Mabel watched it go.

"What an… an idi…" Dipper began but halted and touched his face. There was blood dripping from his nose. His legs gave out and he collapsed onto the sidewalk pulling Mabel down with him as they continued to hold him tightly. "Mabel - I… I died. I can remember dying." He said. His eyes slid closed and his body felt limp in their arms.

"MASON!" Mabel shouted at the sky. "GET US OUT!"

"Don't… call me… that..." whispered Dipper, half conscious.

"MASON!" Mabel shouted again. The face of their brother in the sky frowned and he moved towards them.

The whole world shifted and tumbled and pulled apart around them. Mabel grabbed Dipper even tighter, crushing him into their chest. Street and trees, sidewalk and sky all faded away into emptiness and Mabel felt the familiar sensation of falling without direction as they tumble down into an endless infinity below.

* * *

Mabel fell through the nothingness, clinging to Dipper as tightly as they could. However, it didn't seem to matter how tightly they held him. They could feel him slipping from their arms. In an instant he was yanked away and was gone without so much as a sound. Their brother vanished as if he had never been. They tried to scream his name, to grab him back but their hands clasped around nothing and their words were silent.

They felt her own body unraveling and knew that the end had come for them too. The connection must have failed as the world of sweater town collapsed. So now it was their turn to stop existing, to fade away and become… nothing? Maybe that was better than being alone forever.

Mabel let out a scream as she was ripped in half. It was both the most painful thing she had ever felt and yet… yet it made her happy? It was the oddest feeling. It felt like there was less of her. Like she had lost something from inside her too but she had no idea what. She waited for the moment when her thoughts would vanish completely, what would that feel like… would that hurt too?

That moment did not come. Instead, the blinding nothingness left her vision. She felt herself fall for real, the way people did when there was down to fall into. It wasn't a long fall, only a few feet at the most. She crashed into the ground with a heavy thud and landed on her back, feeling dazed.

The first thing she saw was Mason, standing over her. He was holding her shooting star sweater in his hands. The expression on his face was one of shock and complete and utter disbelief at what he was seeing.

Mabel followed his gaze to her right. There was another person laying beside her, legs tangled up with her own. It took her a moment to realize who she was seeing. Bel. Bel was laying next to her. What's more she looked like she should. The proper age and everything. She was slowly sitting up but she hadn't even gotten half way before Mason rushed to her and hugged and kissed and -

Mabel looked away, turning her gaze down. She noticed she was no longer wearing a sweater, just her plain green undershirt… the shirt she had been wearing when… when Dipper...

She noticed something draped across her lap. Not clothing, but a skinny, noodlie arm.

Her gaze drifted along the arm to find another person laying beside her. Dipper. His eyes were closed his face impassive and for one terrible moment Mabel thought he... that he was… His eyes snapped open and he sucked in a shuddering breath before quickly sitting up.

"MABEL!" he shouted, his eyes darted around, looking for her. His hand across her lap clenched closed, grabbing her skirt and finally his gaze fell upon her.

"Right here bro-bro," said Mabel, covering his hand with her own. His eyes turned to her, then he looked past, frowned and looked pointedly back to Mabel.

"Mabel, why are there two people making out next to us," asked Dipper. "And where are we?" Mabel elbowed Bel. The make out sounds beside her halted. "Mabel, what the heck is going on? And why does the sky look like a giant sweater, and who the heck are they!"

"Wait, you can see sweater town!" cried Mabel. Dipper's eyes widened ever so slightly.

"Sweater town? Wait, we're in sweater town?" cried Dipper. "Oh no, no no no! I'm not real! You just imagined me didn't you? I'm not Dippy Fresh, am I?"

"Calm down," said Mason. "You aren't Dippy Fresh." Dipper looked only slightly relieved at this.

"But, I'm real, right?' asked Dipper. Mason shrugged. "That… that's not very helpful. Who are you? And why do you look so familiar?"

"Dipper," said Mabel, feeling a little embarrassed. "Meet Mason and Mabel, I call her Bel, it helps make things a little less confusing. They're us, in like, twenty years."

"A little less confusing," muttered Dipper clearly not confused any less. Then his expression turned into one of horror. "Wait? Us? But, you two, you were…" he covered his mouth with his hands and Mabel could see his barely held back from vomiting expression she too had experienced.

"Yes," said Bel, still holding onto Mason. "We are. We're a couple." Dipper continued to look queasy but thankfully did not vomit everywhere.

"I would still like an explanation," said Mason.

"Me too," said Dipper. "Mabel, what the heck is going on?"

"So… I might have sort of entangle myself in the lives of alternate versions of us, using my sweater as a portal into a parallel universe," began Mabel casually, like this was an everyday occurrence. "I kept returning here once every day for me, but every year for them and living the day in the body of my alternate self, so that I could be with my brother."

"I'm sorry, you did what now?" asked Dipper.

"Yeah, we know that part already," said Mason.

"I don't!" cried Dipper.

"What I want to know is how did one of you go into a woolhole, yet three of you came out?" asked Mason, ignoring Dipper's protest.

"Two of us went in," corrected Bel. "May and I went in together." She looked down at her adult body. "Although, I guess we just had the one body at the time."

"Right… my body," said Mabel with a nod. She poked herself with a 'boop.' "So, remember that time I came here and we ate ice cream together?" Mason nodded. "And I sort of found that video - "

"Yes," said Mason, clearly not wanting her to elaborate about the contents of said video.

"Well… Bel had already passed away then, right?" said Mabel. There was silence for a moment and Mabel noticed that Mason clutched Bel tighter as she spoke. "Which begs the question, whose body was I in when I came here? Before, it had always been Bel's body. But it couldn't have been her because, well, she was gone.

"Stranger still, I was able to bring her phone and other stuff, back with me when I went home," continued Mabel. "I had never brought anything back with me before. And when I came here this time, Bill was - "

"WAIT!" shouted Dipper. "Did you say Bill? As in the crazy triangle demon, Bill?" Everyone turned to look at Dipper, who shrank slightly under their gaze. "That is really unnerving to have you all look at me like that."

"Yes, that Bill," affirmed Mabel with a nod. "Don't worry, he's gone." Dipper opened his mouth, possibly to argue further but Mabel covered it with her hand. "We can talk about it later bro-bro… if there's a later for us," reflexively her eyes glanced skyward. Great holes had opened in the sweater above them. They might have only minutes left… or maybe just seconds. Whatever it was, it wouldn't be long until the end of the world.

"Anyhow," continued Mabel. "When I came back this time, Bill was able to change how I looked, change me 'back to my proper shape,' as he said." Mabel motioned to herself to indicate how she currently looked.

"So, I think the last two times I've come here, I've actually come here, with my own body. Somehow this world made it look different, and, I can't really explain that part, but it was this body each time. So, I figured if it worked with the phone last time, I could bring something… someone else back with me this time…" She looked pointedly at Mason. Mason looked away.

"But I couldn't…" continued Mabel. "I couldn't do that too him once… once I found out about Abby… and about Bel…"

"May," whispered Bel quietly. For a very brief moment, the two girls, the same person twenty years apart, looked at each other. Mabel felt the incredibly strong urge to hug her and she was fairly sure that Bel felt the same. Instead, they both clung to their brothers.

"Part of me really, really wanted to just stay here, in sweater town forever," explained Mabel. "I almost did. I'm sure that if I'd gone through the other tear, gone outside, I would have stayed here. But this isn't my world," she looked pointedly at Mason, "and no matter how much I want you to be, you're not really Dipper. I don't know what kind of life that would have been. For either of us.

"Then it hit me as I was about to come back here. The crazyiest most insane thing I've ever thought of! And that's saying a lot!" exclaimed Mabel.

"It really is," said Mason and Dipper together. Mabel and Bel giggled, and both boys let out a nervous, uncertain, laugh.

"If I could bring things from this world into my own, why not the other way around? What if I bought things from my world here?" said Mabel. "I mean, I sort of have… kind of? With the journal, but I think that might be something different…" she looked between Mason and Dipper. "I brought it here. But it also still exists in my world...

"So, what if," said Mabel holding out her arms as if about to reveal the greatest plan of all time. "I was able to open a woolhole from this world into my own? Another sweater town. A loop. But a loop into a past moment, a loop leading to my brother when he was still…" she looked at Dipper, "before… it happened."

"Wait, Mabel, did you time travel and change the past?" asked Dipper. "Was I supposed to - was I supposed to die?"

"It's not time travel!" Mabel shouted. Everyone turned to look at her. "Okay, that's a little creepy."

"What do you mean it's not time travel?" asked Mason. "You went into the past and changed events, right?"

"No," said Mabel with a shake of her head. "We didn't so much as go into the past as visit a specific moment that already happened."

"In the past," said Dipper flatly.

"Yes," said Bel.

"That's time travel," said Mason.

"No!" shouted Mabel in frustration. Her brother's didn't get it. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. "Because we didn't change anything. Dipper still died!" Everyone went silent, then Mason and Bel both looked at Dipper, who was clearly not dead. "I still remember you dieing," whispered Mabel. "You said… right before we left… you…"

"It felt like I died," whispered Dipper. "I could remember it… how… how is that possible?"

"If we really changed the past then why would we remember that?" said Mabel softly. "Plus, wouldn't that create some kind of paradoxie-thingie, where going back to save you prevents me from going back to save you?"

"Yes," said Dipper.

"Maybe," said Mason. Everyone turned to look at him. "Wow, that really is..." he shook his head. "We don't know how any of this really works. This power came from Bill, so who knows what it can really do… or what dangers there might be in using it." Mabel avoided looking in Bel's direction. She knew some of the dangers already.

"You still didn't answer my question," said Mason. "How are there three of you? Where did the extra Mabel come from?" He looked between Bel and Mabel. "And… and what happens to both of you when - when the woolhole closes."

"I think I know the answer to both," said Bel softly. "I think this body is the one you first arrived in, the one that Bill changed and the one that stepped through the rift… the one with - " she tapped the side of her head. "You know." Mabel gasped and covered her mouth. Oh no, she had done it again, she had done it to her twice! But Bel was smiling. "It's alright, it's fine. There wasn't one before but we have a cure now. I'll be alright."

"I'm still sorry, Bel," whispered Mabel. Bel nodded with a sad smile.

"As to what happens," said Bel. She hugged Mason. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Okay," said Dipper, thankfully not following at least some of what Bel was talking about. "Than, who is my sister," he gestured to Mabel. "Classic Mabel?" Bel and Mabel stuck out their tongues at the horrible name. Their brother, no matter his age, was terrible at naming things.

"Absolutely not," said Mabel. "If you really want names for us, you can call me May, and her Bel," she held out a hand towards her older counterpart.

"Okay, who are you, May?" asked Dipper, "and who am I?"

"You two _,_ " said Bel with a wave of her hand. "Have your bodies from just before the accident. I know May has her body because I was the one that pulled it back with us. She was a little too occupied with you to think about it." Bel smiled at Dipper.

That was how she had gotten her body, why it had felt like being born again. Her mind had slipped into her past self as they had returned through the woolhole. She had held onto Dipper. And Bel had held onto her. And Mason had pulled Bel out. In her thoughts she could see the long linking chain tieing them together.

"But she doesn't look like you," protested Dipper, pulling Mabel out of her musings. "Unless you've been coming here for years! Mable, how long have I been gone?! How much older are you now?"

"Two weeks?" guessed Mabel with a shrug. "But it's been twenty years for them. I donno, time is sort of all funny here. I have no idea why. I looked older when I came here the last few times. I think that's how I'm supposed to look while I'm here." She looked down at her still thirteen-year-old body. So that meant she wasn't supposed to stay here like this… right?

"So," said Mason, "Let me see if I have this right. You used another woolhole to jump from this world back into your own, at a previous point in your own life, from another parallel reality. Then, you proceeded to not only pull your brother but also yourself back into this world. Superseding your past life and giving Bel your future body."

"Sure?" said Mabel with a shrug.

"My brain is hurting," groaned Dipper, rubbing his temple. "I mean, can we go back to the part where we're in sweater town because I sort of lost what was going on after that."

"So what's the next part of that plan?" asked Mason, ignoring his younger self's plea.

"Uh," said Mabel. "There isn't a next part. I didn't think it would actually get this far." She looked up at sweater town. "You pulled us out of the woolhole but there's no one to pull me and Dipper out of here. All we can do is wait and see what happens…"

"Happens when what?" asked Dipper, also looking up.

"The connection is closing," said Mason, and Bel nodded.

"Which means...?" asked Dipper. No one answered him. "You are kind of freaking me out here… I mean, I'm already sort of freaking out but, this is really freaking me out."

"We don't know what it means," said Mabel. "Or what's going to happen. Maybe I just go home, and this fantasy is over." She took Dipper's hand. "Maybe we both go home, and everything's fine…" She looked away. "Or maybe…" she trailed off into silence.

"Or maybe this world only exists as long as sweater town does," said Mason. "And when it's gone, so is everything and everyone inside it." Dipper looked pale.

"Oh," was all he could manage to say.

The group fell back into silence for a long while.

"I don't believe that," said Bel. Everyone turned to her. "Seriously, stop doing that."

"Sorry," said everyone in unison.

"That's even worse!" cried Bel in mock horror. Light titters of laughter broke the tension. "I don't think we're gonna vanish," continued Bel. "Mason, after… after I died, I went someplace, a world between worlds, a place I could look in on other sweater towns. Woolhole or not, I want to believe we will continue to exist." Mason and Mabel nodded, both with small smiles.

"And me?" asked Dipper, he squeezed Mabel's hand tightly. "What happens to me?"

"You come home with me broseph," said Mabel, squeezing his hand just as tightly. Then, not having planned to do so, she flung her arms around him and grabbed him up in a crushing bear hug, knocking him over. "Cuze I'm never letting go of you, ever again!"

"Mabel! Air! Air!" cried Dipper as she smothered him. Mabel nuzzled her head into him and gave Dipper one last tight squeeze before releasing him. He panted slightly but smiled before it changed into a small frown. "I don't want to lose you either." He took up her hand again.

"So… we just sort of wait around or…" said Bel, rocking slightly in a gesture Mabel recognized as boredom. Mabel glanced up again, looking at the unraveling sky. The world sure was taking its sweet time falling apart. "You guys wanna head back to our place, maybe watch some bad movies or something?" Dipper and Mabel shrugged.

"Sure?" said Dipper.

The four of them got to their feet. As Bel stood there was a moment where she and Mason looked at each other in surprise. Then Bel started to cry and so did Mason. The two hugged each other, just standing there holding the other.

"Come on Dipster, let's give them a moment," said Mabel, dragging him along behind her towards the car.

"Mabel," said Dipper, pulling his hand free from her's and half glancing behind him at their older selves, who were now kissing. "This… this is sort of freaking me out?"

"Which part?" said Mabel. "The part where our older other selves are in love with each other? Or that you're inside of sweater town, a completely makebelieve world inside my sweater? Or how I pretty much brought you back to life?"

"All of that!" cried Dipper. "Mabel, do you realize how insane this is? I mean, this can't be real, this has to be a dream or a nightmare or something!" Mabel came to an abrupt stop. She turned back to her brother and looked seriously into his face.

"Dipper," she said simply. Then, quick as lightning she whipped off the brown hat that Wendy had given him and licked the top of his forehead.

"Ewww! Mabel, gross!" complained Dipper, snatching back his hat and wiping at his forehead with his sleeve. "Why'd you do that?" She just blew a raspberry at him. "Right, just you being Mabel."

"It's good to have you back, Dip-itie-do," said Mabel, punching him affectionately in the shoulder.

"Ouch," complained Dipper, now being assaulted on all fronts. "And don't call me that, it's almost as bad as being called 'Mason.' I can't believe I would ever want to go back to that!"

"They're not us bro," said Mabel. "They're a version of us, a possible us. But not us, okay?" Dipper nodded, but muttered something she couldn't hear.

Mabel and Dipper were the first to reach the Geep. They didn't have the keys, so they had to wait for Mason and Bel to catch up. The two of them were just standing there, not really talking when it happened again. This time much more clearly.

At first, Mabel thought it was Mason approaching, and she was half right, because it was Mason. Except it wasn't Bel he was carrying in his arms, it was her. It was another Mabel, dressed in the borrowed clothing she had been wearing before going into the rift. Just how many of her were there? She was transparent and ghost like and so was Mason. They reminded her of the other worlds in sweater limbo.

The ghostly Mabel leapt out of the transparent arms of Mason and dashed at them. She wrapped her arms around Dipper but as she did she vanished like smoke and it was just Mabel and Dipper standing alone once more.

"What - what the heck was that!" cried Dipper in alarm. Mabel looked at him. He had seen it too?

"You saw them?" asked Mabel. Dipper nodded.

"I saw you," he said. His hands moved over his body. "Mabel, I told you changing the past was a bad idea!" Mabel shook her head.

"I told you! I didn't change the past!" cried Mabel in frustration. She had forgotten how annoying her brother could be sometimes. "Besides, that doesn't make any sense! I didn't go into the past in this world! I went in our universe!" Dipper opened his mouth to argue but seemed to either think better of it or wasn't able to find an argument.

Thankfully, Mason and Bel finally showed up and unlocked the car. The twins, the older ones, sat up front, while Dipper and Mabel took the back. As Mabel was buckling herself in Bel caught her attention by holding up Abby's journal. Bel frowned, glaring at Mason.

"So," said Bel. "We spent years, trying to keep our daughter a secret, and you just send her right into Abby's room, like she isn't going to notice." Mason turned very red.

"I thought it was the end of the world," muttered Mason. "Also, I wasn't thinking." Bel smiled.

"That much is obvious brobear," she said. Mason started the car and began his multi-point turn.

"This is all still weirding me out," whispered Dipper. Mabel 'pfft' at him.

"Bro, you don't know the half of it," said Mabel.

* * *

As they made the drive back to the shack, Mabel launched into the tail of everything that had happened. Mason and Bel jumped in at parts as well. However, there wasn't anywhere near enough time to tell Dipper everything and so her story continued as they went inside. They sat at the kitchen table and Mabel launched into the retelling of the waterfall cave.

"Of course, neither of us thought to bring a bathing suit with us," Mabel was saying, Mason was starting to go red in the face. "So here I was, in a body that was totally weird and stuff and I had to strip down - "

"You never told me this part," complained Bel. Mason, if possible went even redder. Mabel was just about to continue when she felt a shiver run across her skin. She turned to look back over her shoulder and saw, herself, standing at the kitchen door, looking in at them.

She was ghostly and just like before, Mason was also standing by her side, looking just as transparent. They lingered there for a long moment before fading away.

"Mabel?" asked Bel, bringing her back. She turned to look at the group who were all staring at her. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know, I keep… I keep seeing these weird images of myself, or something," said Mabel.

"The other you," said Bel with a nod. Mabel felt confused.

"Wait, you know what they are?" asked Mabel. "Can you see them too?" Bel nodded.

"Of course," said Bel. "It's the you that chose to stay in sweater town." There was a long moment of silence.

"What?" asked Mabel and Dipper together.

"In the crossroads you made a choice," explained Bel. "To stay or to go. You chose that you wanted to go home, to try and rescue Dipper from his fate. But you also chose to stay in sweater town to accept the way things are. So you did, you made both choices."

"The other me," whispered Mabel remembering the second self she had seen just before she had left sweater limbo.

"What you're seeing is like after images of that other choice," said Bel. Mabel looked back at the door but there was no one there.

"For how long?" asked Mabel. Bel shrugged. Mabel hadn't seen another Dipper in those reflected moments. Did that mean the other her didn't have him back? She had Mason though… what would it be like to be here with Mason forever…

Her eyes focused on Mason across the table as she tried to imagine what it would be like.

"Why are you staring at me?" asked Mason uneasily. It wouldn't be like having Dipper back… but it wouldn't be horrible either. She frowned. How would he ever accept her after what she had done. Mason still didn't know that it was her that had given Bel - Mabel shook her head.

"Sorry, I was just picturing that moment where you flashed your little dipper at me," said Mabel. Mason went red again.

"Mason! You didn't!" cried Bel in horror.

"No! No I was still wearing my underwear! And we were about to go back into the water and - " Mason protested loudly, however Bel had started to laugh. He looked a little relieved.

There had been the promise of movies but all of them were so wrapped up in recounting their adventures of the past years that the movies were completely forgotten. Mabel was glad to have turned the conversation away from her other, other, self. Telling stories of the past didn't give her time to dwell on what that other world might be like.

Dipper seemed to remain impassive through much of the telling. He listened with interest and laughed at the parts that were meant to be funny, although it was a nervous, reserved laugh. However, Mabel got the feeling that he was still trying to process all of this. She couldn't blame him, it was a lot to take in. Mabel left out nearly everything she had learned in the videos from Bel, afterall, those were for her.

Thankfully, it was Bel who jumped in to explain her relationship with her brother. It was obvious from his expression that Dipper did not understand it, nor did he seem to approve. And the uncertain look he gave to Mabel had her thinking probably the same thing she was. Were they headed in the same direction too?

The day grew late as Mabel finally recounted the earlier events of that day and their run in with Bill.

"So now, I've got this crazy triangle thing on my head," said Mabel, booping herself in the forehead. "I guess it's the reason any of this was possible in the first place. Bel has it too." Bel nodded.

"Okay, so, there's one thing I still don't understand," said Dipper.

"One thing?" asked Mason.

"Well, most of it I don't understand," replied Dipper. "If this is a parallel universe, shouldn't it be parallel? Why are we so far into our future?" No one answered. He looked towards Mabel who just shrugged and stuck out her tongue.

"I've had a lot of time to think about it," said Mason at last. "I don't think it's time dilation. Mabel, you said you come here every day, right?" Mabel nodded. "So, if it was compressed time, that would mean that roughly every ten minutes in your universe, a day would pass here but when you go home, it's hours later, isn't it?"

"Yeah," said Mabel. "It's always felt like a dream, like I slept through the night."

"If I had to guess, and, I do," said Mason, Bel giggled into her hand. "I think it was just your doing, May. You didn't just want your brother back, you wanted a life where he still existed. Weather you were conscious of it or not, I think you caused the time skips somehow. Or it could just be a side effect of the woolholes? Every time we've encountered them, like with Bel or Great Uncle Ford, they always took them to different times and places."

"Wait, are you saying this is our future?" asked Dipper. Mason shook his head but it was Bel who answered.

"No," she said. "I mean, I'm sure parts of it might be similar but May doesn't have another her jumping in and taking over her life every year."

"At least not yet," said Mabel. "And… sor - "

"May, it's alright," said Bel with a genuine smile. "Things worked out. Despite some… uh, rough moments." Mason's watch beeped.

"Ten minutes," he muttered to himself. "Before midnight."

"What happens at midnight?" asked Dipper.

"We go home," said Mabel and a strange thought occurred to her. "I think we should head to bed."

The four of them made their way up to the attic. Mason and Bel headed to Mason's bed. Mabel started towards her bed on the other side of the room but Dipper pulled her to a stop.

"Mabel," he whispered. "What're we doing?" His eyes swept over to where Mason and Bel had cuddled down together in the same bed. Mabel rolled her eyes.

"Not what you're probably thinking Dipper, gross!" she said. Dipper frowned, that was clearly not what he had been thinking.

"We can hear you," said Mason.

"It's still gross!" answered Mabel, only giggles replied and she sighed. "Dipper, just trust me okay." It took a moment but he finally nodded. Mabel pulled him over to the bed and got in. She held up the covers and patted the spot next to her. With a sigh Dipper sat beside her.

"Seriously, all this other crazy stuff is going on and you are weirded out by this?" asked Mabel as they lay side-by-side looking at the crazy twisting sweater ceiling above them.

"That, and whatever the giggling from the other bed means," mumbled Dipper. Mabel turned to her side so she could look at her brother lying next to her.

"It's not the first time we've slept in the same bed," said Mabel. "I just… I just want to be close to you right now, alright? I don't know what's about to happen. I've never stayed here beyond midnight, I've always returned home." She grabbed his arm. "And I want you to come with me this time." Dipper finally turned to look at her. "When this dream ends, I want to wake up with you there beside me, okay?"

"Okay…" whispered Dipper.

Mabel felt it. She felt the end, the creeping darkness washing away the world. She lunged forward and wrapped her arms around her brother. She felt him do the same. If he was saying words, she couldn't hear it, because she couldn't even hear her own voice as she called out to him.

It was the strangest sensation. She couldn't properly explain it. Mabel felt like she was made of wool. That was the only thing her brain could come up with. It was like every fiber of her being was actual fiber. She could feel her body tangle and untangle. And she could feel Dipper… but not his skin. It was like… like he was made of wool too.

Her sense expanded and she could feel more than just Dipper. She could feel the bed, the floor, the walls… the ceiling. The woolhole. She had a true sense of it, although it was nothing like she had any reference for. It wasn't just a tunnel through space and time and universes, it was an extension of herself. She had made it.

She could feel it coming apart. The threads had held as long as they could but they could hold no longer. She felt the woolhole tear in half, its threads unravel and come apart.

She knew that if they stayed in the bed they would stay in this world. She forced herself up, soaring into the sweater sky. Her hands reached for her brother, but she didn't have hands anymore. She didn't have a body, she was just a tangled mess of threads.

Frantically, she tried to find Dipper, to hold on and pull him. But nothing made sense to her brain anymore, she was an unraveled ball of yarn and the world was endless tangles.

And yet, she could sense her brother, tangled up with her. He was telling her it was okay, although not in any words she could understand. Was this what twin mind powers felt like? It was awesome!

All around her huge gaps tore through the walls of the sweater. Light poured in from every direction and the whole world was washed away in a blinding flash. Mabel couldn't feel any part of her threadbare body. It was like she had stopped existing, like she wasn't anything. She was sweater town and it had unraveled, so she must have unraveled along with it. And strangely, she was okay with that. Because the one thing she could feel was her brother there with her.

* * *

With a jarring thump, Mabel felt herself plop down onto the hard ground. The feeling of being bits of thread unraveling into nothing ended abruptly and it was hard to recall how it had felt. For a moment she felt blind, looking up into the bright light all around her. Gradually, shadows began to swim into her vision as tall whisp like trees grew out of the sunlight.

She was disoriented and confused. She blinked trying to bring the world into focus, bit-by-bit, parts of her felt like they were waking up. She was outside, someplace in a forest. She looked down at her pink shooting star sweater, torn and tattered.

Except, maybe she was too big for it because the sweater around her was exceptionally tight. She gasped for air as if she had stayed under water too long. She struggled to pull the sweater off. It was wrapped so tightly around her body that it felt like it was nearly crushing her. She continued to frantically tug at the sweater. However, with one final yank she felt the garment rip. As it came away in her hands she watched the threads unravel before her eyes and her favorite sweater, her first sweater, the sweater that reminded her of her brother, tumbled apart around her, becoming nothing more than loose threads.

Mabel looked at her hands, tears bubbling up in her eyes as the bits of thread flitted out of her grasp in the wind. It was gone. Not just her sweater but the other world, it was gone. Dipper... Dipper was... Another hand came up and took hold of hers. Mabel felt her heart stop in her chest. She realized the tightness from around her middle was still there, even though there was no more sweater. Ever so slowly her eyes followed the hand that was holding her's back to its owner. Laying there on the pine needles beside her, head resting against her thigh and big brown eyes crying with joy as they looked up at her, was Dipper. Thirteen year old Dipper. Her brother. He was here. Not just in sweater town. Dipper.

"DIPPER!" shouted Mabel. She pounced into a hug and they rolled across the ground. "DIPPER! DIPPER! DIPPER!" she shouted with joy than suddenly stopped. She had said that for far too long now.

"That… that was the strangest thing I've ever felt," mumbled Dipper. "Could you maybe get off me?" She had ended up on top of him, arms wrapped around him in a crushing hug. She hurried off him to sit by his side. He sat up. "It felt like I was coming apart. Like I was untangling. But I could also feel you there and… and I just kept my thoughts focused on you. Mabel… are we back?"

"Yeah bro," said Mabel with a smile. "We're back!"

"Uh, back where exactly?" asked Dipper looking around the clearing. "Mabel, where the heck are we?" Mabel looked away. "Do our parents even know you're here?"

"Not... really?" said Mabel, with a weak apologetic smile. "I may have kinda of taken this trip on my own with a creative use of dad's credit card?" Dipper raised an eyebrow but started to laugh. Mabel suddenly covered her mouth. "Mom and dad! What're we going to tell them!" She poked her brother in the chest, confirming he was really real.

"Ouch, hey," said Dipper.

"I mean, they are going to flip," said Mabel.

"And you think I'm not flipping out right now?" asked Mason. "Mabel, I died! You crossed realities and timelines to bring me back. I saw an alternate version of us that were… uh, you know..."

"Kissing," teased Mabel. Dipper went red and simply nodded. Mabel laughed and kissed him on the cheek.

"Eww, Mabel!" complained Dipper, wiping at his face with an arm.

"Relax bro-bro, I'm just teasing you," said Mabel and in a moment she went from the happiest moment of her life into sobs. She pushed her head into his chest. "I've - missed you - so much - Dipper!" she gasped out between sobs.

Dipper just held her and let her cry. She really had her brother back.


	18. Chapter 18 - The Epilogue

Sweater Town

Chapter 18 – The Epilogue

By Starwin

* * *

Abby was both somewhat bummed and a little happy that her vacation had ended almost three weeks early. She was supposed to stay in California until the end of July but her Uncle Mason had insisted she come home immediately.

She was bummed to leave because California had been pretty fun this year. There were awesome beaches, cute boys to chase after and a few new friends she had made. However, she was also happy to leave because her grandparents hardly let her do anything on her own! They were always hovering over her, always wanting to know where she was going and when she would be home. She couldn't even lie about it because they used the KidWatch app installed on her phone to see where she went! They were just so - so BLARGH!

That's what mom would have called them. What she had called them sometimes. Still they were nice. She knew her mom and dad didn't get along with her grandma and grandpa but that was okay.

The bright green Auto Speed Cab pulled up to the sidewalk in front of her and her phone beeped, letting her know this was her ride. She held her phone up to the door and it flashed green. Her name, route, travel time and fair all displayed on the floating image above her phone.

She hugged her grandparents, said goodbye to them as her grandpa loaded her bags into the storage compartment in the back. Then she climbed in and took her seat. Her phone helpfully reminded her that the vehicle would not depart until she engaged her safety belts. She waved goodbye to her grandparents and said goodbye one last time.

Abby pulled the safety harness around her shoulders and clicked it into place. The belts moved and adjusted to her body and tightened, although they weren't uncomfortable.

"Travel time to destination is one hour and twenty five minutes," said the electronic voice from her phone. Once again the information displayed for her with an accept button at the bottom. She pressed it. The cab pulled away from the sidewalk and accelerated away.

Uncle Mason had set up and scheduled the cab for her. All the stuff she had to do on her phone was just for show. She couldn't change the destination or even really do anything but just sit along for the ride. She didn't like feeling like she wasn't in control.

That's what she liked so much about Gravity Falls, it felt like she was in control. Her mom had always sort of let her do whatever she wanted. There were very few things she had ever said no to. And her dad…

Abby looked out the window as the buildings sped past. In a minute or so they would be on the hyper track lane. She had an hour before she would be home. An hour alone with herself in the back of a self driving cab. An hour to think.

Her dad. She knew of course. She had figured it out when she was ten. It wasn't Uncle Mason at all, it was dad. She also sort of understood why no one had ever told her. When she had found out it had only taken minutes on the internet to discover the forbidden taboos around her existence.

Still, she didn't understand _why_ they had never told _her_. Had they just been waiting until she was older? Well, she was older now and still her dad had never told her he was her dad. She could handle knowing, obviously.

But knowing was part of the reason they had stopped doing stuff together. Okay, that and his total obsession with his secret studies.

He had lied to her. Her mom, the person she had trusted most in the world, had lied to her.

She didn't know how to feel about that or what to do about it. So she had just tried to avoid it. And avoiding it meant spending less and less time with her dad.

Abby turned her attention back to her phone. With a few quick taps and swipes she navigated to one of her favorite videos and hit play. She had been seven and her mom and unc - and dad had taken her on an adventure. The dragon cave. She had gotten to see a dragon, a sleeping dragon, but a dragon nonetheless.

Her dad recounted how her mom and him had ridden it across the sky when they had been younger. She flipped to another video and found one of her and her mom working on her adventure journal together. She missed her mom so much.

Why did she need to go home anyhow? Why hadn't her dad just told her what was going on. Remote Holo Presence was close enough to being there with someone. And, both their phones could handle the projection, even if it did cost a little extra to do. Of course you couldn't touch a hologram.

Not for the first time, Abby considered if she should just tell her dad that she knew. Like always though she wondered if that would only make things worse between them. He clearly didn't want to tell her. Would letting him know make things better at all?

The cab drifted across the traffic lanes. Abby felt the vehicle accelerating up to travel speed. She tapped her phone to see the specifics. A map with their route displayed on it. In the top corner was the time remaining, one hour, five minutes to destination. In the bottom corner of the screen was their current speed two hundred and seventy miles per hour and climbing.

She glanced out the window to her left to see an unbroken stream of self driving vehicles moving bumper to bumper like a train. They were still rushing past in a blur but she was gaining on them as her cab continued to speed up.

After a minute or so they were moving at the same speed as the cars beside them. Four hundred and fifty miles per hour. Seamlessly, the two vehicles next to her parted and her cab slipped in between them as if it had always been there. She didn't even feel a bump as the magnetic locks engaged. She became part of the long unbroken train of hyper speed vehicles in transit.

She glanced out the right window to see a blur of either manual cars or accelerating or decelerating vehicles joining or leaving the link. It was pretty neat to watch. At first. Than it just became the same sort of colorless blur after a while.

Her mom had never bought into the selfdrive stuff. She had bought a Geep years back with the selling point being that it was manual drive only. Which had worked out fine because a lot of selfdrive only worked on paved roads and they had done a lot of off road driving for their adventures.

Abby turned to her backpack and fished out her journal number 2 from it. She had left her first one at home. It was too important to take out of the house. She could never replace it. She ran her hand along the foil eight pointed star before flipping the book open. She smiled as she began to read.

She had grown up with a super phone in her hand. She had made videos of her own, videos with her mom and with her dad. She had a complete digital life spread across multiple social media platforms.

But there was something about having a physical book, about being able to touch the pages and feel the texture that just didn't translate into digital. Her friends all thought it was weird. Books were a novelty only made for the strange collectors who liked old things. She hadn't been able to understand where her friends were coming from until she had seen a vinyl record.

It was so big and bulky that it must have held a billion songs. She was surprised when she found that it had ten, five on each side. It had been hard to wrap her brain around that anyone would want such a thing. It had been even stranger to learn that companies still made them because people still wanted them.

That was like her books she guessed. She still prefered to read on paper. And she still prefered her physical journal to anything digital.

She flipped the page forward and found one of her favorite adventures with her parents, the floating mist. It was a fog that had given them the power to fly! Albeit only two feet off the ground. They had spent the day tumbling around through the air. There was even a picture of the three of them all hugging and floating.

She smiled at the image. How could anyone not see how much of a family they were. How was it possible no one had figured out who her dad was but her? She frowned as she thought of her dad.

No. He was Uncle Mason. She had to remind herself that was who he wanted to be. He didn't want to be her dad. She closed her journal and put it back into her backpack.

She had intended to write loads of stuff into it while she had been down in California but she just really hadn't had any adventures. She'd had fun for sure. Met some new friends and generally enjoyed herself. But it hadn't been anything she would have classified as adventure.

Her phone beeped at her again and Abby looked down to see what it wanted now.

"Ten minutes to destination," said the synthetic voice. She blinked, looking out the window. Time had flown by for her, she hadn't even noticed them pulled out of the hyper speed link or decelerate back to normal. Tall trees were flitting past the windows and she recognized the general area around her. They weren't that far from home now.

She was starting to feel a little nervous though. She had distracted herself along the way but now that she was only minutes out her mind began to wonder why her dad had brought her home so early.

 _Uncle Mason. Not dad. Get it right in your head. Uncle Mason_.

The cab pulled to a stop. "No valid paved road beyond this point. Welcome to your destination." said the voice from her phone. Abby glanced down to see the travel completed notice hover over her screen. She dismissed it.

The car hadn't gone all the way to the Mystery Shack because the dirt road was not drivable by selfdrive. That wasn't a big deal though. She was a hiker, an adventure, a traveler! A few hundred feet of dirt road was nothing!

She collected her backpack and roller bag from the car and started down the path that would take her back to her house. She heard the cab silently depart behind her once she was far enough away and the vehicle ensured that she hadn't left anything behind.

It was a much shorter walk than she would have liked to the front of the house. She was hoping there would be more time for her to think. But it seemed like only seconds later she was climbing the front steps. And her dad - her Uncle, was waiting for her at the door.

She couldn't read the expression on his face. It certainly wasn't anger or disappointment or anything that seemed to indicate she had done something wrong. Which was good, because she hadn't. Well, nothing he could possibly know about anyhow.

"Welcome home, starshine," he said. He almost knelt to hug her but patted her head at the last second. He used to hug her, before mom had passed away. Then everything had gotten weird and he had stopped. They only hugged when she did it.

"Hey, Uncle Mason," said Abby. "I'ma go to my room if that's okay." She was home and now that she was, she couldn't wait to get back out. Maybe a long hike or something would help her.

"Actually, just leave your stuff by the door, we need to talk," said Mason. Well, okay, that probably wasn't good. She thought about arguing but… but maybe he was going to finally tell her? "Come on." He waved for her to follow as he headed up the stairs to his room. To her mom's room.

Abby hadn't been upstairs for years now. After her mom had passed she couldn't even set foot inside her room. And her dad - Uncle Mason, had never once invited her up. There was a knot forming in her tummy. Something was wrong. There was something bad he wasn't telling her.

Her brain whirled around trying to get her mouth to talk and ask what had happened. But her feet just obeyed and followed him up the stairs. There was a feeling of dread working its way up her spine and she thought about turning around and running out the front door.

Instead, she stood motionless outside the door to the room where her mother had lived most of her life. She didn't want to go in.

Mason opened the door and all the panic and fear that Abby was feeling abruptly fell away as she saw… her mom? She didn't look like Abby remembered but she knew it was her.

"Mommy!" cried Abby, her voice breaking. Reason completely lost to her, Abby broke into a run and sprinted across the room the wrap her arms around her mom. "How…"

"That's sort of a long story," said her mom with a smile. "But I think you're ready to hear it, all of it."

* * *

The device in Ford's hand beeped again, they weren't far now. He was hoping against hope that what they were headed towards wasn't what he thought it was.

"Hey, Fordsie, can you slow down!" called his brother from behind him.

They had cut short their trip around the world to come back for their great nephews funeral. That had been almost a week ago. Afterwards they had returned to Gravity Falls. It had been their intent to start up their trip once more, but somehow, it didn't feel right.

Mabel hadn't been acting like herself. She wouldn't even talk to them at the wake. Her parents had confessed that things had been very hard for her and that she had been having problems ever since the accident. Ford had offered his help, but they said they were already seeking professional assistance.

Stanlee had confided in him how hard it had been to lose Ford all those years ago. He hadn't suffered quite the same level of breakdown as Mabel, but then again, he had never believed Ford to be dead, simply lost.

It was hard for Ford to imagine what it was like. When he had been lost between dimensions there hadn't been a lot of time to think about the world and people he had left behind. It had been an almost constant struggle for survival.

The device beeped again.

"It's not far now," said Ford, adjusting their heading slightly.

Of course, everything had changed yesterday. Ford had been busy organizing a search party for his missing niece when Mabel and against all odds her brother, her dead brother, had magically appeared at the Shack. They were both fine, both alive. And had a mind boggling impossible story to tell, even if Mabel had left some things out. He was good at noticing stuff like that.

However, while everyone else was amazed by her tale, For was worried by it. What she had described could mean only one thing and what she had done… well, it was impossible there wouldn't be consequences to her actions.

The device began to go crazy, beeping and whining. They had to be very close now - He felt a hand grab his arm, tugging him to a stop.

"Ford! It can't be," gasped Stanlee.

Ford looked up from the blinking screen and saw two of his worst fears confirmed. The first he had expected. Well, okay, he hadn't expected to find it here, but he had expected to find it. Bill. Or rather, the stone body he had left behind. That was slightly troubling in and of itself. If Bill was really gone than this thing should have crumbled to dust. That was a problem to be solved another time. They had bigger issues right now.

Kneeling down, Ford waved his device through the air in front of the statue. He couldn't see the other thing, but it was certainly here.

"How can it be Bill?" asked Stanlee. "I thought we erased him!"

"Hmm? Oh, right," said Ford. His brother sure could be slow sometimes. "That's just his physical body, the one he left behind when he entered your mind. Don't worry about it, we aren't in any danger from him. It's this we need to worry about!"

Ford pointed at the air in front of the statue and Stanlee gave him a skeptical look.

"The air?" asked his brother.

"What? No, not the air," said Ford, shaking his head. "Why would it be the air? No, Stanlee, it's a tear! A rip in reality!" He held up the device so his brother could see the readings he was seeing. Stan looked at it for a long while then shook his head again. Ford rolled his eyes.

"This is a similar rip to the one that was created when you reopened the portal," explained Ford, pulling off his pack and fishing inside for his portable containment unit.

"Wait, you mean like the one this guy came through?" asked Stanlee, jerking his thumb towards Bill. "I mean, he's right here though, not like he can come through again."

"We don't know what could come through, and there are more horrors in the Nightmare Realm than just Bill, although he was the worst of them," said Ford. "In any case, we can't just leave it here." He held up the containment globe, re-enforced from his previous design, and snapped it shut around the invisible crack in reality. The light on the unit switched from red, to yellow and finally green.

"There we go, all contained, at least for now," said Ford.

"You keep that thing safe this time, I don't want to have to save your butt again," said Stanlee with a chuckle.

"Stanlee, we have already agreed that we saved each other's butts," said Ford with a sigh.

"I know, I know, I just saved your butt more," taunted Stanlee.

"Can you please stop talking about butts," said Ford, slightly irritated. Stan just laughed. "Anyhow, we should get this back to my lab and into containment."

"Where did that thing come from anyhow?" asked Stanlee as they began to head back.

"I was always worried that Mason might follow in my footsteps, make the same mistakes that I did. I feared he would try to open doors that were never meant to be opened," explained Ford seriously. "But I think I might have been worried about the wrong twin. If even half of what Mabel said is true, and I believe it is, she might be a catastrophic risk to all existence." His words ended into a silence that settled heavily into the air.

"Wait, who's Mason?" asked Stan.

 **The End**

* * *

 _Final thoughts and notes from the Author:_

 _(This is pretty long and has some insights into some of the major factors that shaped this story. It's bonus material (a little like a behind the scenes). If you're not interested in any of that then - thanks for reading!)_

 _I put a huge amount of effort into this story, almost a year and a half and over a thousand hours of writing, reading and editing to create this adventure. Honestly, it's been pretty rough. It was a very difficult story to write due to its themes and content (not to mention a main character that can't talk for most of it) and it's left me pretty drained emotionally._

 _I considered not even publishing this work because I didn't think it was something other people would want to read. In the end, one of my beta readers encouraged me to put it up and I did… but it was certainly difficult and pretty unfulfilling to do... so, this is more than likely the last fanfiction I'll ever post._

 _There are four major moments I want to share that shaped this story into its final form. The first was in the original draft. When I conceptualized the story, it was around the idea of what would Mabel see in sweater town. Where did she go when she tucked herself into her sweater? With the show, we got MabelLand, which I didn't want to repeat. As I tinkered around, the first draft of the story started to fall into place. What if she went to another universe (through a woolhole!), where things were different, better. And to be better, things would have to be worst first, thus, Dipper's death right at the start._

 _In the very first version of the story, the events of chapter one happened the year before they go to Gravity Falls, instead of the year after. It was supposed to be a reimagine of some moments from the show. But as I got further into the draft, a re-telling just felt… wrong. The show is already excellent and there was very little I thought I could improve on. But the time skip stuck and the story changed with far more focus on that._

 _The second major event came with forbidden relationship between the twins._ _I hadn't planned for any romance between characters. I'm not a shipper, I don't write shipping stories… because if I did I would have way more readers… I write stories and if an element improves a story I include it. No matter how much people might be against said element (and I guess there is a lot of hate for this particular one, which, I didn't even realize existed as a thing until I got comments on it)._

 _As I wrote the main plot threads, the aspect of Dipper and Mabel's relationship (that people rage quit the story over) just sort of happened. It filled in gaps and holes that otherwise didn't work. One of the big things it solved was narrowing the character focus. Instead of adding new characters as we neared the conclusion it let me focus on the two that mattered the most. And once it was there, it was simply impossible to remove it without scraping the whole story and approaching it with a completely different idea._

 _And then there was Abby,_ who nearly managed to kill the whole story _. Originally she was just supposed to be a tool to help the reader visualize the gaps in time (going from 2 to 7 years old between chapters). But, during one of my continuity reviews of the story, where I read through the whole thing (usually, in one sitting) to see if it all still makes sense, or, if things have been misplaced or repeated, I discovered something unexpected. An emergent aspect of the story that I had included without realizing it was there. Abby, was actually Mabel and Mason's secret daughter._

 _Once I saw it, my brain simply wouldn't accept that she could be anything else. As a result, Abby's role in the story also had to change. She went from a background set piece to a major plot element. And her arrival threw a huge hurdle down that nearly made me give up on the story completely. It wrecked the ending._

 _Which brings us to the fourth (and final) major event that changed the course of this story, the ending. I suck at endings. I've written hundreds of stories, published a handful of them, and hate the ending on almost every single one._

 _I'm not good at endings. I know I'm not. I write cliffhangers. The problem with endings is that life doesn't have an ending. Because that ending is death. And every story can't just end with every character dying (no matter how hard I try (I killed off enough of them already))!_

 _So, I've worked hard to improve my conclusions. I try to resolve the major goals of the characters, give the audience clouser, things like that… but I still suck at it._

 _Abby, nearly destroyed this story, and me in the process. Once she existed, I couldn't unexist her, she was here to stay. And this caused a major, MAJOR, problem with the ending. Because the ending I wanted was Mabel's Plan A, to drag Mason home with her, back into his thirteen-year-old self. But then there was Abby. So, Mabel couldn't take Mason with her because it was such an irredeemable action for the character._

 _Now, you might be thinking, okay, so, this is an easy fix. Just get rid of Abby, or, heck, go with plan A. They're just fictional characters, who cares? But, well, that's not how I write stories. I'm not afraid to take things out when they don't work. There were moments in this story that were amazing, but simply didn't service the goals, so they got cut. Abby's inclusion though is a major element of the story. And while I could have cut her out or changed her back, the final work felt poorer for it._

 _This left me in a difficult position because my ending was no longer viable. Every chapter so far had taken a couple of days or a week to write. But the ending. Wow, draft after failed draft. Months went by and I still didn't have a workable conclusion. Even after I started publishing I hadn't finalized the ending, it was still up in the air by the time chapter six went up, more than a month and a half into posting. The closest attempt I had was a version of the 'The Outside' where Mabel stayed with her brother in sweater town. Except, that wasn't where I wanted the story to end. It would be my last resort if I couldn't discover something better._

 _On and on I toiled, trying to find a solution. Something that would get me closer to where I wanted the story to be. An ending that was, for lack of a better word, happy because so much of this story is downright depressing. I had several other attempts at endings (eighteen in total, at various stages of completion). They were different ideas on similar themes, but they were all… bad._

 _Then I wrote what would later become 'The Inside' and that was nearly the end… of everything._

 _I hated it. No words can express my disdain for this chapter in its original form. I felt unfulfilled, cheated and downright angry that it even existed. What the fuck was the point of the whole story if this was the ending? I felt as if I had failed in my task, that everything I had written for this was pointless. I was pretty close to just giving up, taking the story down and moving on to something else, that's how much I didn't like the ending (and how much interest I had lost in even finishing this story)._

 _But in a moment of realization I found what I was looking for. The balance I was missing. 'The Inside' and 'The Outside' didn't work on their own, they were two halves of the same story. They aren't alternate endings, or a choose your own adventure. They are the fulfillment of both possible options, stay or go, the only way this kind of story can end. The hero either goes home or they stay in their new world. And Mabel is the kind of person that wouldn't let a small thing like only being able to choose one outcome stand in her way._

 _And with that, dear reader, we have reached the end. Thanks for reading._


End file.
